"Eat My Dust!" Control of Fugitive Dust Advances Another Step as DRI's New TRAKER Technology Hits the Road

An aged, white van nosed its way along the streets of Boise, Idaho this spring, sniffing the air for tiny particles of fugitive dust as part of a new approach in the battle for healthy lungs. Carrying a combination of the latest equipment for determining size variation and the mass of lofted dust, DRI's TRAKER technology is the newest weapon for zeroing in on controllable dust sources.

First tested in the streets around the Las Vegas Valley, TRAKER-an acronym for "Testing Re-entrained Aerosol Kinetic Emissions from Roads"-provides information in a way that is faster, safer, and less labor-intensive than conventional methods of manually vacuuming dust samples off street surfaces.

Dr. Vic Etyemezian, an air quality scientist in DRI's Southern Nevada Science Center in Las Vegas, who helped develop the system, says the new capability gives air quality managers a solid scientific basis for formulating more effective air quality decisions on what is known as "fugitive dust."

"The specific sources of fugitive dust in a community can change rapidly with weather and human activity," says Etyemezian. "With TRAKER, we can get almost instant, real-time data that is site specific as to the size distribution and amount of particulate matter that is being suspended into the air. And we can sample on unpaved roads, city streets, or freeways. That's critical for obtaining a snapshot of the dust emitting potential of a roadway network in a given area."

Fugitive dust is an important contributor to fine particles known as PM10. Excessive levels of PM10 violate federal air quality standards defined by the Clean Air Act. It is a problem more common in the arid West than the wetter, eastern part of the United States, and, not surprisingly, the problem and noted violations are most severe around the West's rapidly growing metropolitan areas.

Dust in urban areas is characteristically associated with the disturbance of dry surface soils, whether from traffic on unpaved roads and parking lots and on the unpaved shoulders of paved streets, from construction of new homes and businesses, or from the resuspension of particulate matter that builds up on paved roadways and gutters from all other sources. Windy weather amplifies the nuisance and health-threatening aspects of fugitive dust conditions.

Prevention is the most effective approach to controlling fugitive dust, so identifying where it is likely to occur is the key to success. TRAKER is coupled with a global positioning system that shows the exact location of the dust data on a second-by-second basis. With knowledge of the exact location of particulate sources, local planners can strategically prioritize road paving programs, pinpoint additional street sweeping efforts, and proactively raise the level of dust abatement efforts in high dust loading areas.

Etyemezian, and his DRI associate on the project, Dr. Hampden Kuhns, have been developing TRAKER for two years. They recently began demonstrating the system's capability to urban air quality officials in areas where dust is potentially a significant contributor to the airborne particulate matter.

It is not only urban areas that will benefit from TRAKER. This summer, another DRI "dust expert," Dr. Jack Gillies, will use a modified version of TRAKER to estimate dust emissions from dirt roads in Ft. Bliss, Texas. In this series of experiments, Gillies will examine fugitive dust emissions from vehicles, such as the ubiquitous Humvee, that are frequently used on military installations.

The project is part of a broader DRI research program to examine how the Army's training activity affects desert surfaces and ecosystems. DRI is working with the U.S. Department of Defense to improve procedures for reducing environmental impacts while permitting critical training to continue.

The original concept work on the TRAKER system was funded by the Clark County Regional Transportation Commission. The Idaho Division of Environmental Quality funded the application of TRAKER in Boise, and the U.S. Department of Defense is funding the use of TRAKER in Ft. Bliss.