Impact of COVID-19 Social Distancing Policies on Traffic Congestion, Mobility, and NO2 Pollution

Abstract

Lockdowns implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic were utilized to evaluate the associations between “social distancing policies” (SDPs), traffic congestion, mobility, and NO2 air pollution. Spatiotemporal linear mixed models were used on city-day data from 22 US cities to estimate the associations between SDPs, traffic congestion and mobility. Autoregressive integrated moving average models with Fourier terms were then used on historical data to forecast expected 2020 NO2. Time series models were subsequently employed to measure how much reductions in local traffic congestion were associated with lower-than-forecasted 2020 NO2. Finally, the equity of NO2 pollution was assessed with community-level sociodemographics. When cities’ most stringent SDPs were implemented, they observed a 23.47 (95% CI: 18.82–28.12) percent reduction in average daily congestion and a 13.48 (95% CI: 10.36–16.59) percent decrease in average daily mobility compared to unrestricted days. For each standard deviation (8.38%) reduction in local daily congestion, average daily NO2 decreased by 1.37 (95% CI: 1.24–1.51) parts per billion relative to its forecasted value. Citizenship, education, and race were associated with elevated absolute NO2 pollution levels but were not detectibly associated with reductions in 2020 NO2 relative to its forecasted value. This illustrates the immediate behavioral and environmental impacts of local SDPs during the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 Impacts and Sustainability Strategies for Regional Recovery in Southeast Asia: Challenges and Opportunities

“…The positive impact of the pandemic on the environment has evidenced from the better air quality due to the reduction of economic activities worldwide, supporting the progress toward SDG 13 for climate change. The recent research also supports the positive impact [19,40,49]. As economic production temporarily stopped, the emission of greenhouse gas and aerosols decreased.…”

“…The review table also shows that their research results and discussions are dispersed with diverse contextual applications. The review also identifies various articles with emphasis on different sustainability pillars (i.e., economic, environmental and social dimensions [9,13,19]. Additionally, only few studies analyze the pandemic effects on all three sustainability pillars, based on the holistic framework of the UN SDGs [7,8,10,14].…”

“…A strategic foresight and strategic management for sustainability would also be needed to balance the traditional economic-social-environmental triad and integrate holistic systems and processes toward sustainability at all levels of the society [26]. To provide a systematic review of the three pillars of sustainability and future research agenda Global Global Ranjbari et al, (2021) [14] To study the post COVID-19 recovery agenda with a fuzzy action priority surface for sustainable development to support the 2030 Agenda in Iran Country Iran Taqi et al, (2020) [22] To identify impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on supply chains and propose strategies in the context of the readymade garment industry Country Bangladesh --Wang and Huang (2021) [10] To review publications related to the impact of COVID-19 on sustainability in the Web of Science database using the bibliometrics techniques and meta-analysis approach Global Global Winchester et al, (2021) [19] To research impact of COVID-19 social distancing policies on traffic congestion, mobility and NO 2 pollution Country USA --…”

Air Pollution Modeling for Sustainable Urban Mobility with COVID-19 Impact Analysis: Case Study of Skopje

“…A noticeable effect on air pollution was observed, and it is discussed that policies implemented for COVID-19 spread reduction could also be implemented for the purpose of air pollution improvement. The research in [11] observed reductions in congestion, mobility, and NO 2 during the lockdown across 22 US cities using regression models. The research was also conducted in smaller cities, as reported in [12], where the city of Maribor, Slovenia, was observed during COVID-19 lockdowns.…”

NO2 pollution decrease in big cities of Latin America during COVID-19 pandemic

“…Further, in Singapore a 54% NO 2 concentration reduction which is significantly correlated (Spearman) to human mobility reduction [47]. On the other hand, a worldwide study has described a maximum of 70% NO 2 Air Quality Index (AQI) reduction observed in the Philippines, seconded by Lima, Perú with a 55% and reaching a 60% mobility reduction across Europe, Asia, and the Americas [48, 49].…”