Report of Workshop on Traffic, Health, and Infrastructure Planning

Abstract

Recent air pollutant measurement data document unique aspects of the air pollution mixture near roadways, and an expanding body of epidemiological data suggests increased risks for exacerbation of asthma and other respiratory diseases, premature mortality, and certain cancers and birth outcomes from air pollution exposures in populations residing in relatively close proximity to roadways. The Workshop on Traffic, Health, and Infrastructure Planning, held in February 2004, was convened to provide a forum for interdisciplinary discussion of motor vehicle emissions, exposures and potential health effects related to proximity to motor vehicle traffic. This report summarizes the workshop discussions and findings regarding the current science on this issue, identifies planning and policy issues related to localized motor vehicle emissions and health concerns, and provides recommendations for future research and policy directions. Keywords air pollution; exposure assessment; health effects; motor vehicle emissions; traffic proximityThe identification of adverse heath effects associated with elevated exposures to motor vehicle emissions (MVE) near busy roadways has emerged as a significant public health concern. This concern is based on recent air-pollutant measurement data documenting the unique aspects of the air-pollution mixture near roadways and an expanding body of epidemiological data suggesting increased risks for exacerbation of asthma and other respiratory diseases, premature mortality, and certain cancers and birth outcomes from air-pollution exposures in populations residing in relatively close proximity to roadways. Measurements indicate that pollutant concentrations can be substantially elevated near major highways and other roadways with large traffic volumes and that this pollutant mixture has specific characteristics reflecting its recent formation and dispersion behavior. Current transportation-planning policies primarily consider the potential impact of increased MVE on population health and on potential exceedances of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) at the metropolitan and regional levels. However, if future studies of health risks from traffic proximity continue to demonstrate increased health risks for populations located near major roadways and

Managing Traffic Flows for Cleaner Cities: The Role of Green Navigation Systems

“…Pollutant concentrations decrease in concentration as they are transported by the wind and vehicle movement turbulence from the source [18]. Increased health risks for populations located near major roadways and transportation infrastructures, particularly in densely populated urban areas, have been continuously reported [19]. However, transport planning has usually tackled them in a similar way, considering that most of the strategies designed to reduce GHGs emissions also reduce air pollutants and vice-versa and do not account for the spatial variation of transport emissions,.…”

Asthma and School Commuting Time

“…Residential traffic-related exposure has been associated with increased asthma severity, 5 and on-road and residential exposure have been associated with other acute outcomes. 20-21 Because most children had short school commute times, we examined the association of commute time with severe wheeze among the 34% of asthmatic children with commuting time 5 minutes or longer.…”

“…4-5 The specific pollutants responsible for these associations are not known, but high concentrations of ultrafine particles and associated gases with high potential for respiratory toxicity 6-8 are emitted in vehicular exhaust. These pollutants decline markedly within 150-300 m of roadways, 9-10 which corresponds to reported spatial variation in risk of childhood asthma.…”

Can changing the timing of outdoor air intake reduce indoor concentrations of traffic‐related pollutants in schools?

“…A number of strategies have been proposed to reduce children's exposure to traffic‐related pollutants in the school environment. These include mandatory setbacks of schools from roadways; increased filtration/filtration maintenance; the use of sound walls, trees or other vegetation as barriers; and modified building/HVAC design (Brauer et al., ; White et al., ). However, these interventions are often not feasible or are cost prohibitive for many school boards with limited resources.…”