Land Use Near Freeways: Exposure Risk to Mobile Source Pollutants
Gail Sandlin, Alon Bassok & Christine Bae
University of WashingtonDepartment of Urban Design & Planning
Research question: Is there a disparate impact on low income and minority populations for exposure to mobile source pollutants?
Examine the hypotheses that:• populations live or attend schools within
proximity to freeways• socioeconomic demographics of populations
within proximity to freeways indicates a high concentration of low income and minority
Freeway Air Pollution Sheds (FAPS) in King County, WA, Urban Growth Boundary (UGB)
FAPS and Portland UGB
Trends in Vehicle Miles Traveled -
http://www.psrc.org/datapubs/pubs/trends/t2sep03.pdf
Seattle area 1981-1992 Seattle & Portland 1990-1997
http://mobility.tamu.edu
Vehicle Miles Traveled1990-1997
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
% PopulationGrowth
% VMT growth % VMT growthper capita
Seattle
Portland
-2000 Traffic Volume- Limited Access Freeways
Seattle
Area
AADT(x1000)
I-5 100-244
I-90 46- 141
I-405 135-244
SR 167 91-107
SR 520 64-101
SR 99(Alaskan Way
Viaduct)
110
Portland Area
AADT(x1000)
I-5 57-146
I-84 95-150
I-205 79-150
I-405 91-125
US 30 91-125SR 99 57-146
SR 217 92-118
www.odot.state.or.us/tdb/traffic_monitoring/tvtable.htmwww.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tdo/annualtrafficreport.htm
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/pdfs/Pollution_Pie_2002.pdf
Mobile Source
Pollutants
Ambient Air Regulatory Limits
Adverse Health Effects
Traffic / Environmental Health Studies
1 hour 8 hour 24 hourAnnual Mean
PM2.5 15 ug/ m3 65 ug / m3 * aggravation of asthma * depressed lung function in children *aggravation of acute respiratory symptoms * increased risk of wheezy bronchitis in infants
van Vliet et al. 1997
Gehring et al 2002
English et al 1999
Wjst et al. 1993
PM10 50 ug /m3 150 ug /m3
Ultrafines
Ozone 0.12 ppm0.08 ppm
*aggravation of asthma *reduced lung function
CO 35 ppm 9 ppm *increased cardiac ischaemia
NO20.11 ppm (WHO)
.053 ppm
* increased respiratory morbidity *aggravation of asthma * reduced rate of lung function
Nitta et al 1993
Delfino et al 2003
VOC'surban air toxics: e.g. benzene, acetaldehyde,
formaldehyde etc.
* increased response to allergens *increased risk of lung cancer * increased risk of childhood leukemia
Janssen et al. 2003
Crosignani et al. 2004
Environmental Health Traffic Studies• Germany: Wjst et al. 1993
• Netherlands: Brunekreef’s collaborations 1997 to present
• United States:– New York City & Boston (community based studies)– Upstate New York: Lin et al– Los Angeles:
• English et al. 1999• Korenstein et al. 2002• Zhu et al. 2002• Gunier et al. 2003• Green et al. 2004
• Italy: Crosignani et al. 2004
Traffic & Adverse Health Effects
1. Proxy Exposure Methods
• Distance ( 100 - 400 m)
– Dispersion modeling
– Monitoring studies
• Traffic volume (AADT)
• Traffic Density (road segments in buffer)
• Percent Truck Traffic
2. Acute Short Term Exposure v. Long Term Low Level Exposure
• Adverse health effects below regulatory levels
3. Cumulative and / or Synergistic Effects
Dispersion of Ultrafine ParticlesZhu et al. (2002)
Mile Post Description ADTV School Comments
156.29 After ramp Interurban Ave 205000 8% Truck Traffic
158.32 After ramp Boeing Access 214000
161.21 At Albro Place 203000 Cleveland High (0.18 mile from Cleveland High)
164.80 At S King St Bridge 158000
165.29 After JCT Express Lanes 135000 NB Reversible traffic not included
165.30 Before Ramp Seneca St 135000 NB Reversible traffic not included
165.67 After Ramp Cherry St 196000 NB Reversible traffic not included
165.91 After Ramp Union St-7th 227000 NB Reversible traffic not included
166.20 At Olive Way 203000 NB Reversible traffic not included
166.66 After ramp Stewart St*Denny W 202000 NB Reversible traffic not included
167.35 After ramp Mercer St 240000 NB Reversible traffic not included
167.39 After ramp Boylston Ave E 226000 NB Reversible traffic not included
168.06 At SR 520 WB 166000 TOPS Elementary NB Reversible traffic not included
169.18 At Lk WA Ship Canal Bridge 185000 NB Reversible traffic not included
169.71 After ramp NE 45 St 179000 NB Reversible traffic not included
170.04 After ramp NE 45 ST*NE 50 St 195000 NB Reversible traffic not included
Traffic Volume: 2002 Annual Traffic ReportWA DOT
http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/mapsdata/tdo/annualtrafficreport.htm
RAMMET
• Meteorological pre-processor –– prepares National Weather Service data for use in
dispersion modeling
• Scram Surface Met data– Seattle-Tacoma, 1991
• Scram Upper Air data– Quillayute Airport, 1991
• Created – .met output file– Wind Rose
Wind Rose: 37% of time from southwest ~37% ;19% of time from northeast
Maple Hill area
Georgetown
Cleveland playfield Cleveland High
Cleveland High School
Freeway Air Pollution Sheds (FAPS) in King County, WA, Urban Growth Boundary (UGB)
School Demographics
Schools in Western King County FAPS
0102030405060708090
100
StanfordElementary
TOPS ClevelandHigh
KennydaleElementary
ThurgoodMarshall
Elementary
King CountySchools
perc
ent
% Minority
% School Lunch Program
FAPS and Portland UGB
School Demographics
Area Schools in FAPS
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
OckleyGreen
Elementary
TubmanMiddle
Benson PeninsulaChildrens
Center
Capitol Hill
% Minority
Methodology Residential Units in FAPS
Residential Units in Block GroupsRatio =
Þ
I-5
Cleveland HS
S. Lucille St.
S. Orcas St.
S. Juneau St.
FAPS 104004ParcelsKing County FreewaysMFH in UGBSFH in UGB
Þ Schools in FAPS
FAPS
Block Group 104004
0 0.3 Miles
Residential Land Use in FAPS
• King UGB SF units 6892
• King UGB MF units 15274
• Portland area UGB SF units 2676
• Portland area UGB MF units 4685
Relative Concentration (RC) of the Vulnerable Pop.
Population X in FAPS YTotal population in FAPS Y-----------------------------------
Population X in UGBTotal population in UGB
LQ =
Western King County, UGB
0
0.25
0.5
0.75
1
1.25
1.5
1.75
2
w hite black hispanic asian children seniors income belowpoverty
FAPS subpopulations
LQ ratio: FAPS to UGB
LQ ratio: FAPS to UGB
Portland area UGB
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
white black hispanic asian children seniors incomebelowpoverty
Populations
Residential infill within King FAPS
1990-2000: 981 SF homes 81 Apartment complexes (5,846 units)
1980 -1989: 357 SF homes 66 Apartment complexes (1,165 units)
Þ
I-5
Cleveland HS
S. Lucille St.
S. Orcas St.
S. Juneau St.
FAPS 104004ParcelsKing County FreewaysMFH in FAPS in UGB since 1990SFH in FAPS in UGB since 1990
Þ Schools in FAPS
FAPS
Block Group 104004
0 0.3 Miles
Conclusion
• Populations live within proximity to major traffic freeways; with an increasing trend
• With respect to area demographics, there is a higher concentration of minorities and low income populations living within proximity to major traffic freeways
• Schools are located within proximity to major freeways and preliminary data indicate these schools are predominately low-income and minority
Next Steps
• Pierce County UGB
• Senior facilities
• Hot Spot analysis– Traffic volume, fleet composition– Dispersion modeling
• Temperature, wind direction, topography
• Microscale monitoring
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