Assessing the Impact of Traffic Crashes on Near Freeway Air Quality

As interest grows in eco-friendly green transportation systems, transportation management agencies have focused on effectively mitigating vehicle emissions. Extensive research has been conducted to enhance the performance of transportation systems in terms of environmental compatibility. A novel feature of this study includes considering crash occurrences when analyzing near-freeway air quality. This study quantifies the impact of traffic crashes on vehicle emissions and the associated near-freeway air quality. Both crash data and vehicle detection systems (VDS) data, which were obtained in 2012 from a Korean freeway located in a densely populated urban area, were used to determine the impact of traffic crashes on near-freeway air quality. MOVES and CALPUFF were adopted to estimate freeway emissions and air dispersion under crash-involved and crash-free traffic conditions, respectively. In addition, the contributing factors that affect the severity of emission dispersion were identified by regression analyses. As a result, the local community near freeways within a 1-km radius of crash locations was affected by traffic-related air pollution exposure. The regression analyses also showed crash characteristics and weather characteristics affect traffic-related air pollution exposure areas. Finally, this study proposed traffic-related public health strategies to mitigate air pollutants generated from crash occurrences on freeways.

  • Supplemental Notes:
    • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADC20 Standing Committee on Transportation and Air Quality.
  • Corporate Authors:

    Transportation Research Board

    500 Fifth Street, NW
    Washington, DC  United States  20001
  • Authors:
    • Joo, Shinhye
    • Oh, Cheol
    • Lee, Seolyoung
    • Lee, Gunwoo
  • Conference:
  • Date: 2017

Language

  • English

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: 19p
  • Monograph Title: TRB 96th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers

Subject/Index Terms

Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 01623408
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Report/Paper Numbers: 17-01567
  • Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
  • Created Date: Jan 24 2017 3:32PM