Roadway Determinants of Bicyclist Exposure to Volatile Organic Compounds and Carbon Monoxide
Sponsor
This research was supported by the National Institute for Transportation and Communities (NITC), Portland Metro, and the City of Portland. Alexander Bigazzi was supported by fellowships from the U.S. National Science Foundation (Grant No. DGE-1057604) and NITC.
Published In
Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment
Document Type
Citation
Publication Date
12-2015
Subjects
Air -- Pollution -- Health aspects -- Oregon -- Portland, Automobiles -- Motors -- Exhaust gas -- Health aspects
Abstract
Few studies have quantified relationships between bicyclist exposure to air pollution and roadway and traffic variables. As a result, transportation professionals are unable to easily estimate exposure differences among bicycle routes for network planning, design, and analysis. This paper estimates the effects of roadway and travel characteristics on bicyclist exposure concentrations, controlling for meteorology and background conditions. Concentrations of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and carbon monoxide (CO) are modeled using high-resolution data collected on-road. Results indicate that average daily traffic (ADT) provides a parsimonious way to characterize the impact of roadway characteristics on bicyclists’ exposure. VOC and CO exposure increase by approximately 2% per 1000 ADT, robust to different regression model specifications. Exposure on off-street facilities is higher than at a park, but lower than on-street riding – with the exception of a path through an industrial corridor with significantly higher exposure. VOC exposure is 20% higher near intersections. Traffic, roadway, and travel variables have more explanatory power in the VOC models than the CO model. The quantifications in this paper enable calculation of expected exposure differences among travel paths for planning and routing applications. The findings also have policy and design implications to reduce bicyclists’ exposure. Separation between bicyclists and motor vehicle traffic is a necessary but not sufficient condition to reduce exposure concentrations; off-street paths are not always low-exposure facilities.
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Unaffiliated researchers can access the work here: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2015.09.008
DOI
10.1016/j.trd.2015.09.008
Persistent Identifier
http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/20856
Citation Details
Bigazzi, A. Y., & Figliozzi, M. A. (2015). Roadway determinants of bicyclist exposure to volatile organic compounds and carbon monoxide. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment, 41, 13–23.
Description
Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved