Project Number:

2514

Route 128 Interchange 19 Reconstruction

SERVICE:

Microscale and Mesoscale Air Quality Analyses

DESCRIPTION:

This MassHighway project included improvements to Route 128, Brimbal Avenue, Sohier Road, Dunham Road, Otis Road, and the Interchange 19 ramp system in Beverly, Massachusetts. It included the construction of a series of new ramps and access roads that are designed to improve vehicular circulation for both businesses and residents in the area. A new overpass would connect to the Norwood Pond and Dunham Road development area off Brimbal Avenue. New diamond type on/off-ramps would provide direct access to Route 128 in the SB direction and Dunham Road would be dead-ended just south of the proposed overpass location.

Tech Environmental performed microscale and mesoscale air quality analyses to evaluate the proposed roadway changes to Interchange 19 (Route 128 and Brimbal Avenue).  The mesoscale air quality analysis was performed for VOC, NOx, CO, and carbon dioxide (CO2), using the EPA Mobile Source Emission Factor Model, and following a protocol that was approved in advance by the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and Region I of the U.S. EPA.  The microscale CO air quality analysis was performed with the required EPA model, for the five intersections with the largest overall travel delays and worst level of service (LOS) for the preferred Build Alternative. 

The analyses demonstrated that the project would conform to the Massachusetts State Implementation Plans (SIP).

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Key Points

  • A Massachusetts highway improvement project required air quality analysis for five nearby intersections that would be affected by travel delays.
  • Tech performed microscale and mesoscale air quality analyses that demonstrated that the project would conform to State Implementation Plans.