TRB Pubsindex
Text Size:
x

« Prev Next »

Return to Results | New Search

Bookmark and Share

Title:

Air Quality and Health Impacts of Freight on Small Urban and Rural Areas

Accession Number:

01624222

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

Many areas affected by freight traffic are not located in major urban centers. However, relatively little attention has been paid to the small urban and rural areas that also experience significant volumes of freight-related traffic. The studies that do occur are often conducted at such large scales as to prevent subpopulation analysis and links between pollution and health. This paper examines the health impacts of freight-generated air pollution, focusing especially on the impact in small urban and rural areas, and on environmental justice communities located along primary freight corridors in Georgia. The association between pollutant exposure and increased health risks is analyzed to estimate the magnitude of health impacts along selected freight corridors in 2007 and forecast year 2040. The study relies on a multi-step approach, which first estimates air pollution levels on freight corridors using an ambient air quality simulation model for five representative urban and five representative rural areas distributed throughout the state. In the second step, pollutant concentrations for age, racial, ethnic, and income-based subgroups are analyzed, and the relative risks of developing a set of pollution-related health conditions (e.g., asthma, lung cancer) are calculated and compared for populations exposed to different pollution levels. The results show that, while urban communities are more highly exposed to NO₂ and PM₂.₅ pollutants than small urban and rural communities, freight emissions are still a problem in the nonurban areas of Georgia, increasing significantly in the 2040 forecast year. In addition, results indicate that minority and low-income residents suffer disproportionate exposure and health risks.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AT025 Standing Committee on Urban Freight Transportation.

Monograph Accession #:

01618707

Report/Paper Numbers:

17-04748

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Ross, Catherine L
Welch, Timothy F
Kumar, Amit
Hylton, Peter

Pagination:

15p

Publication Date:

2017

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2017-1-8 to 2017-1-12
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; Maps; References; Tables

Geographic Terms:

Georgia

Subject Areas:

Environment; Freight Transportation

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2017 Paper #17-04748

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Dec 8 2016 11:49AM