Center for Safety Equity in Transportation
rural • isolated • tribal • indigenous
rural • isolated • tribal • indigenous
CSET Project #: 1911
Project Funding: University of Alaska Fairbanks
Start Date: September 2019
End Date: September 2021
Budget: $69294
The Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities recently adopted a laboratory test method to evaluate the performance of dust palliatives used on roadways. The method uses a six foot by eight-inch column through which a sample of treated soil is dropped. The dust that remains in the column is measured and reported. In a follow-on effort UAF developed a portable, table-top dust fall column which has shown promise as a replacement for the current column. The size and simplicity of the new column allows for the column to be used on site to measure the performance of palliatives after placement. It is anticipated the new test method will have less variability than the current test method. The purpose of this study is to validate the new column and test method.
Road dust from unpaved roads is a major air quality concern in many tribal communities. Dust (also called Particulate Matter (PM)) has negative impacts on health, road safety and quality of life. There is a series of four webinars to help tribal environmental and transportation staff to manage road dust, resulting in improved air quality.
Presenters from US Environmental Protection Agency, University of Alaska, Alaska Department Environmental Conservation, Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals will provide information to help tribal environmental and transportation staff create community partnerships to:
Participants will also be introduced to a variety of online resources to help with planning for road dust management.