Input Guidelines for Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator Model, Volume 3: Final Report (2015)

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5.0 Practitioners’ Handbook The primary product of this research is a Practitioners’ Handbook intended to assist MOVES users in developing local inputs. The resource document is presented in two parts: Volume 1 – Regional-Level Inputs (i.e., using the County Data Manager), and Volume 2 – Project- Level Inputs. Each volume includes the following sections: • An introduction; • An overview of MOVES inputs, including the name of the input as used in MOVES, a description, and EPA guidance; • Sensitivity of model outputs to inputs, providing a summary of findings to help users understand which inputs may be most important to refine local data; • Development of local input data, providing detailed information on alternative data sources for each input; • Examples, providing comprehensive examples of the development of all MOVES inputs for hypothetical regional and project-level situations; • References; and • Acronyms. Within the section on development of local input data, each volume has a subsection for each of 10 inputs. These inputs are listed in Table 5.1. The age distribution, meteorology, fuel, and I/M program inputs are substantially similar for both regional and project-level applications, but were repeated so that each volume functions as a stand-alone document. Table 5.1 MOVES Inputs by Volume Volume 1 – Regional Level Volume 2 – Project Level 1. Age distribution 1. Age distribution 2. Source (vehicle) type population 2. Link source types 3. VMT 3. Link characteristics: traffic volumes 4. Temporal adjustments 4. Link characteristics: length and grade 5. Road type distribution 5. Link characteristics: average speed 6. Ramp fraction 6. Operating mode distributions and drive schedules 7. Average speed distribution 7. Off-network data 8. Meteorology 8. Meteorology 9. Fuel formulation and supply 9. Fuel formulation and supply 10. Inspection and maintenance programs 10. Inspection and maintenance programs 5-1

For each input, the following information is provided: • Description and format; • EPA guidance and source of data embedded in MOVES; • Overview of data source options; • Data sources, procedures, and methods; • Sample data and tools; and • Examples. As previously noted, the overall research for this project was conducted in two phases. As part of the scoping for Phase 2, a list of potential activities was developed that could assist MOVES users in understanding different input data sources and contribute to the Practitioners’ Handbook. These possible activities ranged from collecting and analyzing sample data, to showing how existing data sources could be combined to develop MOVES inputs, to conducting research and demonstration on new data collection methods. These candidate activities were evaluated according to level of effort and priority, where priority considered the importance of the data source (impact on outputs) and the extent to which guidance or improvements to the data source would be useful. The outcomes of this evaluation were documented in the Phase I Interim Report for the project (not published). Input from the NCHRP Project Panel was then used to shape the final set of activities undertaken as part of Practitioners’ Handbook development in Phase 2. 5-2