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Announcing Version 2.0 of Database for Air Quality and Noise Analysis (DANA) Tool

Information provided by the U.S. Department of Transportation – Federal Highway Administration sent  05/04/2023

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Image: Map of National Highway System (Source: FHWA)

The FHWA recently released version 2.0 of its Database for Air Quality and Noise Analysis (DANA) tool on its website.  DANA is a tool created by FHWA to combine traffic data from existing data sources into properly formatted inputs to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) model and the FHWA’s Traffic Noise Model Aide (TNMAide).

Improvements for DANA 2.0 focus on refining the accuracy of the calculations, but it also includes usability improvements, bug fixes, and the latest Travel Monitoring Analysis System data (2021).  Some possible uses for DANA and TNMAide include assisting in completing noise analyses for NEPA documents, planning analyses to identify highway projects and mitigation measures, and MOVES county-level runs completed for various purposes (mobile source air toxics analysis, greenhouse gas analysis, etc.).

DANA Tool: The Database for Air Quality and Noise Analysis (DANA) is a tool created by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to combine traffic data from existing data sources into a single database and process the combined data into properly formatted inputs to EPA’s Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) model and the FHWA’s Traffic Noise Model Aide (TNMAide). DANA provides real-world measurements of traffic conditions for use in environmental analyses, instead of relying on transportation models to generate base year traffic data. Finally, DANA helps ensure that environmental analyses use a consistent set of traffic data and processing methods across the entire country. FHWA provides the DANA tool as a resource to stakeholders and use of the tool is voluntary; however, using it may not satisfy all regulatory requirements.

To learn more about the DANA tool, see the DANA 2.0 User Guide, which includes sections on background, setup, operating the graphical user interface (GUI), data flow, and input/output data specifications.  For web training, the DANA Tool and TNMAide Video Series offers short-format videos that provide an overview of the DANA tool and TNMAide, and describe installation and running of the tools.

Next steps include national runs for the entire National Highway System for 2019-2020 and DANA version 2.1, which will integrate TNMAide into DANA.  Please contact DANAhelp@dot.gov or TNMHelp@dot.gov with questions.

 

More Resources: 

Training

  • DANA Tool and TNMAide Release Webinar (63 minutes) or (PDF of slides) – This webinar provides an overview of the DANA Tool and TNMAide, demonstrates how to use the two tools through a live demonstration, and describes possible uses.
  • DANA Tool and TNMAide Video Series – These short-format videos provide an overview of the DANA tool and TNMAide, describe how to download and install them, and demonstrate how to run the tools.
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