How wide should be the adjacent area to an urban motorway to prevent potential health impacts from traffic emissions?

Barros, Nelson; Fontes, Tânia; Silva, M.P.; Manso, Maria Conceição

doi:10.1016/j.tra.2013.01.021

Cited by 31 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…However, residents are also confronted with the negative externalities being particularly important at the local level, potentially contributing to a reduction in local environment quality (Bateman, Day, Lake and Lovett, 2001). In recent years, several studies have shown an increased incidence and severity of health problems possibly related to traffic emissions of air pollutants in people who live, work or attend school near the main roads (Barros et al, 2013).As such, both positive and negative externalities related to the road might influence people's location decisions. Once the location decision has been made, whether or not influenced by the (potential) externalities of the road, these externalities may impact people's overall residential perceptions and might foster potential (future) behavior.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Residential satisfaction close to highways: The impact of accessibility, nuisances and highway adjustment projects

Hamersma

Tillema

Sussman

et al. 2014

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice

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In this paper we focus on gaining insight into the residential satisfaction of households near highways, based on survey data collected among 1,225 respondents in the Netherlands living within 1,000 meters from a highway. Ordinal regression was used to study the impact of highway externalities on residential satisfaction. Moreover, we gained first insights into the reactions of people on highway adjustment projects, by studying people's expectations towards residential satisfaction as a consequence of the project with use of a multinomial logistic regression analysis. On average, 85 percent of respondents reported being satisfied with living near a highway. Regarding explanatory characteristics, subjective evaluations of air and noise nuisance and of accessibility are of comparable importance and seem to outperform objective exposure calculations or distance from the highway or access lane in explaining residential satisfaction. Moreover highway interest is directly reflected in a higher satisfaction. However, other factors such as neighborhood design, traffic safety and social cohesion are important as well. People react differently to highway adjustment plans, negative expectations being highly driven by current negative feelings towards nuisance, and positive expectations by personal interest in accessibility and a positive attitude towards cars. An important implication could be the notion that exposure is not the same as perceived nuisance, which may give reason to be cautious when making transportation planning decisions based solely on calculations. In addition, the finding that other (neighborhood) factors are also very important in explaining residential satisfaction is interesting when thinking about compensating for the negative effects of a highway in the neighborhood. Also, the results regarding reactions to an announced highway adjustment project might be used to better adjust the planning process to the characteristics of the residents in the area. Further research is necessary to deepen the results, for example through the addition of other road project locations, interviews and longitudinal data.Keywords: highway infrastructure planning, accessibility, nuisance, residential satisfaction, planned highway adjustment projects. Highlights We studied the impact of negative (nuisance) and positive (accessibility) highway externalities and a highway adjustment project on residential satisfaction near highways.  Perceived nuisance and accessibility influence residential satisfaction, but other neighborhood factors are also important.  Perceptions of accessibility and nuisance outweigh objective measures (exposure levels, distance from highway/accesslane).  Highway users show a higher satisfaction level.  Expectations towards highway adjustment projects are mixed; highway users and people who like driving in particular have more positive expectations, currently hindered people more negative expectations.3

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Residential satisfaction close to highways: The impact of accessibility, nuisances and highway adjustment projects

Hamersma

Tillema

Sussman

et al. 2014

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice

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“…Error bars denote 95 % confidence limits A further outcome from our analysis is that we have gained an indication of how differing occupation profiles would potentially benefit from the >100 m roadway separation recommended by recent literature(Barros et al 2013;Hystad …”

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confidence: 87%

“…Much of the nearhighway literature concludes that concentrations of primary traffic emissions (NO x , CO, ultrafine particles) are typically elevated by approximately 50 % at the roadside compared to 100-150 m downwind (Karner et al 2010;Pattinson et al 2014;Patton et al 2014). For long-term health reasons, some studies are now recommending a minimum separation of all residential buildings from highways, e.g., 100 m (Barros et al 2013), but little is known about who would actually benefit most from a separation of such a distance.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of an exposure model to explore the impact of residential proximity to a highway on exposures to air pollutants of an ambient origin

Pattinson

Langstaff

Longley

et al. 2015

Air Qual Atmos Health

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Air pollutant exposure models are generally applied to large populations living across wide urban areas, and most do not account for daily variation in activity patterns, which can result in exposure misclassification. Far fewer studies exist where exposure is modeled for specific individuals using detailed time-activity data. We employed a novel application of the US-EPA's Air Pollution Exposure Model (APEX) to simulate exposure levels for 51 residents living within a small study area (1.5 km 2 ) bisected by a heavily trafficked highway in South Auckland, New Zealand. The model produced daily exposure estimates of nitrogen oxides (NO x ), carbon monoxide (CO), and particulate matter (PM 10 ) for the month of July, 2010. Inputs included pollutant and meteorological data monitored at sites positioned both upwind and downwind of the highway, as well as city monitoring sites north of the study area to represent work locations. A local resident survey provided time-activity diary input. The simulation was run once using the residents' home locations and four times with the population artificially placed 50 and 150 m downwind, as well as 50 and 150 m upwind, relative to the highway. For NO x and CO, the population was 31-36 % more exposed when positioned 50 m downwind and 17-18 % less exposed at the upwind side (p<0.001), compared to their actual home locations. An additional 100 m separation downwind resulted in a 56-71 % drop in total mean exposure (p<0.001) and the difference in exposure levels for certain occupations varied by up to a factor of eight (p<0.05). PM 10 exposure was comparatively stable across the area. The effect of residential proximity and position, occupation and work location, were assessed using generalized linear models (GLMs), followed by post hoc testing. This unique application of APEX shows good promise as a planning tool for assessing the potential benefits of a buffer zone between major roads and residential homes, for particular population groups.

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“…Several analyses and methods were developed [23][24][25] to assess the vehicles' emissions as a function of their age, volume capacity, type of fuel, and mean velocity. Clearly, the application of these comprehensive methods requires the knowledge of detailed data concerning the fleets of running vehicles and their yearly change.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embedding “roadside equipment” in the environmental assessment of transportation system: the case of safety barriers

Guerrieri

Casto

Peri

et al. 2014

Int J Energy Environ Eng

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The work arises from the consideration that the environmental impact of a road cannot be limited to the analysis of its constituent materials, even if correctly analyzed in their life cycle. In fact, a given road not only consists of the pavement and subgrade, but also includes several different components and accessories (e.g., road marking, drainages, safety barriers, etc.) that contribute to set a road infrastructure in operative condition. As a matter of fact, only limited attention has been paid in the scientific literature to roadside components, unlike pavement and traffic flow. In the present work, the environmental burden of one of these components, i.e., the safety barrier has been investigated using the LCA methodology and critically compared with that exerted by pavement and traffic flow, in order to establish their relative contributions. To accomplish this task, an application referring to a segment of a typical Italian highway is proposed. This case study seems to confirm that the environmental burden of the guardrail cannot be neglected, because it is often even numerically comparable with that of the pavements. This paper concludes that, in order to obtain a more comprehensive environmental evaluation, this type of analysis should be extended to this component and also to all of the other components and activities that make a road transportation system ready to be used. Such an integrated approach may be useful for administrations to better comply with the current sustainability standards and guidelines.

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How wide should be the adjacent area to an urban motorway to prevent potential health impacts from traffic emissions?

Cited by 31 publications

References 21 publications

Residential satisfaction close to highways: The impact of accessibility, nuisances and highway adjustment projects

Residential satisfaction close to highways: The impact of accessibility, nuisances and highway adjustment projects

Use of an exposure model to explore the impact of residential proximity to a highway on exposures to air pollutants of an ambient origin

Embedding “roadside equipment” in the environmental assessment of transportation system: the case of safety barriers

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