A Visitor Vehicular Emissions Study was performed in three California National Parks between August 2002 and April 2003 – Yosemite National Park, Joshua Tree National Park, and Point Reyes National Seashore – in order to collect traffic count, vehicle tracking, meteorological, Inspection and Maintenance Program, and fuel program data. This data was processed through the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) MOBILE6.2 modeling software to produce park-specific emission factors, and weekly traffic count data was used with these emission factors to produce a weekly emissions inventory for each park. Alternative methods involving modal emissions models were also investigated. This summary report presents the Visitor Vehicle Emissions Study results in a concise format and conveys, in simplified language, the recommendations of the Volpe Center for future related studies. These results and recommendations are explained in greater detail in the companion Volpe Center report, “Visitor Vehicle Emissions Study: Comparison of Traffic Data at Three California National Parks” and three companion technical reports produced for each of the California parks.

Final Report, January 2005
Visitor Vehicle Emissions Study: Summary Report (PDF, 819 KB)