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Ephemeral lakebeds, common features in semiarid and arid regions, are often potent sources of atmospheric dust. One such ephemeral lake in southwestern New Mexico, USA, Lordsburg Playa, is transected by Interstate 10 (I-10), a major transportation artery crossing the southern US. Since construction of I-10 in the 1960s, at least 45 people have perished in motor vehicle crashes at Lordsburg Playa caused by dust-associated loss of visibility. The rate of visibility reductions from dust and traffic crash deaths has increased as climate change has resulted in persistent drought in this region. We used ground-based measurements creating dust emissions from increasing levels of shear stress via a Portable In-Situ Wind ERosion Laboratory (PI-SWERL) to test natural and disturbed surfaces. These tests assessed the potential dust emissivities of different sediment surfaces and landscape positions along with the …