Despite significant improvement in California’s air quality in the last four (4) decades, several areas in California are still classified as nonattainment for multiple particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) and 8-hour ozone ambient air quality standards. The South Coast and the San Joaquin Valley are the only two (2) areas in the nation with an “Extreme” classification for the federal ozone standard. The health and economic impacts of exposure to elevated levels of air pollution in California are considerable; and improving air quality will pay substantial dividends in terms of reducing costs associated with emergency room visits and hospitalization, lost work and school days, and most critically, premature mortality. Among the different sources of emissions in California, heavy-duty diesel vehicles are one of the largest sources of air pollution contributing to approximately 40 percent of total statewide mobile source oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and 15 percent of mobile source diesel particulate matter (PM) emissions. CARB has a long history of regulating emissions from on-road heavy duty diesel vehicles through programs such as the heavy-duty in-use compliance, Truck & Bus regulation, roadside Heavy-Duty Vehicle Inspection program (HDVIP), and the fleet Periodic Smoke Inspection program (PSIP). While these programs have achieved significant emissions reductions, there is still a need for substantial PM and NOx reductions from on-road heavy duty diesel vehicles to achieve ambient air quality goals, especially in the South Coast and San Joaquin Valley regions of California. This requires CARB to develop innovative policies and enforcement strategies to achieve further emissions reductions from these vehicles. To effectively develop these policies and strategies, a more detailed understanding of fleet characteristics of in- and out-of-state heavy-duty trucks operating on California’s roadways is needed. This study seeks to investigate, design and implement a pilot system that can be used to monitor the activity of out-of-state trucks entering the state though the major interstate gateways and border crossings to gain further insights on the travel characteristics of out-of-state trucks and better assess their emissions impacts while operating in California. This will be accomplished primarily by collecting license plate data from on-road vehicles in California using automated technologies such as automatic license plate recognition (ALPR) cameras at multiple locations along major truck corridors near California Highway Patrol (CHP) weigh stations (i.e., CHP commercial vehicle enforcement facilities) and/or other locations with existing infrastructure that can facilitate the installation of such technologies. The work will be performed over twenty-four (24) months, twelve (12) months for installation and twelve (12) months for data collection.

Locomotives are essential for moving freight throughout California. The mostly commonly used locomotives are powered by diesel engines that emit significant amounts of air pollutants, including diesel particulate matter (DPM), fine particulate matter (PM2.5), oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and Green House Gases (GHGs). Locomotive emissions affect communities near rail operations and residents throughout the state, resulting in premature mortalities, increased cancer risk, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits. Many of the communities exposed to harmful locomotive emissions are environmental justice and Assembly Bill 617 communities, meaning the individuals within those communities already live with multiple layers of health burden. To support the California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) efforts to understand emissions from locomotives operating in the state, and to quantify locomotive activity and associated emissions within the State, enabling accurate emissions accounting for obligations such as the State Implementation Plan, the University of California at Irvine will develop recognition tools to identify information on locomotives passing surveillance stations in California. Approximately 13,000 locomotives operate within California each year, many travelling in from outside the State. Surveillance will help to develop CARB understanding of locomotive operation, and when checked against existing data about locomotive certification levels, will help to quantify emissions, informing future policy. Full-time monitoring in multiple locations would necessitate extensive staff time to process and tabulate information. A recognition tool will bring greater understanding of locomotive emissions in the State. The goal of the project is to place surveillance equipment, such as motion-triggered video cameras, at multiple surveillance stations throughout the State by the end of 2024. The recognition tool must isolate locomotives from among other rolling stock on the train, refine recorded information for readability, and record the locomotive identification number, operator identification, time, date, and location.