Assessing the Impact of Road Traffic Reorganization on Air Quality: A Street Canyon Case Study

Abstract

<jats:p>One of the elements of strategy aimed at minimizing the impact of road transport on air quality is the introduction of its reorganization resulting in decreased pollutant emissions to the air. The aim of the study was to determine the optimal strategy of corrective actions in terms of the air pollutant emissions from road transport. The study presents the assessment results of the emission reduction degree of selected pollutants (PM10, PM2.5, and NOx) as well as the impact evaluation of this reduction on their concentrations in the air for adopted scenarios of the road management changes for one of the street canyons in Krakow (Southern Poland). Three scenarios under consideration of the city authorities were assessed: narrowing the cross-section of the street by eliminating one lane in both directions, limiting the maximum speed from 70 km/h to 50 km/h, and allowing only passenger and light commercial vehicles on the streets that meet the Euro 4 standard or higher. The best effects were obtained for the variant assuming banning of vehicles failing to meet the specified Euro standard. It would result in a decrease of the yearly averaged PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations by about 8–9% and for NOx by almost 30%.</jats:p>

Assessment of the Variability of Air Pollutant Concentrations at Industrial, Traffic and Urban Background Stations in Krakow (Poland) Using Statistical Methods

“…Poor air quality in Krakow, often observed during the heating season, is usually associated with unfavorable synoptic-scale (anti-cyclonic circulation), low temperature, low mixing-layer height and low wind speed, which hinders the dispersion of pollutants in the air [58,60,61,64,65], and in the case of fine solid particles with increased formation of secondary inorganic (SIA) or organic (SOA) aerosols [62,[68][69][70][71] and a large inflow background of dust pollution from adjacent areas [22,24,65,67]. Despite a significant reduction of SIA precursor emissions from large combustion plants (SO 2 and NO x ) and residential heating (SO 2 ), the contribution of SIA formation in fine particulate matter is now much greater [68][69][70] than it has been reported for several years ago [72,73]; this indicates an increase in the role of NO x (derived from combustion processes, including to a large extent from the combustion of engine fuels) in the formation of SIA, and thus their greater impact on the levels of fine particulate matter in the air [91,92,97].…”

“…Moreover, many other studies present long-term trends in changes of air pollutants concentrations in Krakow and their impact on health [74][75][76][77][78][79][80][81][82], the mineralogical composition and microbiological characteristics of aerosols [83,84], the oxidative potential of PM 10 and PM 2.5 [85], the chemical composition of street dust [86] and dry and wet deposition [87][88][89]. The results of measurements from the automatic air quality monitoring station in Krakow were also used to prepare the pollution background necessary in the process of air pollution modeling and the assessment or validation of the dispersion [90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97] or prognostic [98][99][100][101] models used.…”

A Study of PM 10, PM 2.5 Concentrations in the Atmospheric Air in Kraków, Poland

“…1-aleja Krasińskiego, 2-Ruczaj, 3-Kurdwanów) [13] At the monitoring station in al. Krasińskiego, the permissible PM10 particulate matter concentration was exceeded 21 times, reporting the value of 50 µg/m3 in a 24-hour standardized result period, whereas in Kurdwanów, this level was exceeded 15 times [15,16]. Comparing the PM2.5 readings taken by the dust meter and by the monitoring station, it may be claimed that both in al.…”

“…Dedusting systems which remove pollutants from flue gases also play an important role. Since transport is an important source of dust, a European emission standard has been introduced, which classifies vehicles according to the amount of pollutants emitted [16]. Another important pro-ecological action in transport is the expansion of public transport.…”

Measuring Walkability with GIS—Methods Overview and New Approach Proposal

“…Secondly, the center of Nowa Huta district (20th century) was designed as an ideal city of real socialism. Thirdly, contemporary Kraków is a city with many communication problems [48][49][50], mainly related to the ghettoization of residential areas [51,52], cacophony of the urban form [53,54] and lack of greenery [55,56].…”