Measuring and Reducing Traffic Congestion

Smart Congestion Relief - Comprehensive Evaluation Of Traffic Congestion Costs and Congestion Reduction Strategies(47 page pdf, Todd Litman, Victoria Transport Policy Institute, Aug. 28, 2013)
Today we review a report from the Victoria Transport Policy Institute that analyses various measures of congestion and the economic and other costs in various strategies to reduce congestion. The author emphasizes the need to include all aspects and both short and long term impacts when selecting an optimum strategy or strategies. Increasing road infrastructure, for example, will reduce congestion in the short term but also increases annual maintenance costs, parking costs and pollution levels while road pricing tends to decrease all three impacts.  

Key Quotes:

“Traffic congestion refers to the additional delay and vehicle operating costs caused by interactions among vehicles on a roadway, particularly as traffic volumes approach a road’s capacity. “

“Win-win congestion reduction strategies include:

• Improvements to alternative modes….
• Bus and high-occupant vehicle (HOV) priority lanes and signal controls, …
• Efficient transport pricing, including congestion pricing …
• Smart growth land use policies that create more compact and multi-modal …
• Transportation demand management (TDM) programs that encourage users to choose the most efficient option for each trip, including commute trip reduction programs, mobility management marketing and transportation management associations. …”

“Commonly-used performance indicators such as roadway level-of-service and the travel time index, only measure congestion intensity, that is, the reductions in vehicle traffic speeds on particular roads; they do not account for factors that affect the amount that residents must drive during peak periods and therefore their total congestion costs “

“Cities are places that emphasize proximity over mobility.” “Most studies conclude that motorists are willing to pay, on average, 25-50% of wages for reduced congestion delay….The U.S. Department of Transportation recommends valuing personal travel time at 35% to 60% of prevailing incomes, or $8.37 to $14.34 per hour ”

“Since congestion pricing was introduced in central London in 2003, vehicle trips into the congestion pricing zone have declined by 17%, and congestion, measured as person-hours of delay per mile traveled, has fallen by 26%. “

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How Much Could Our Health Improve from Reduced Vehicle Emissions?

Protesters gathered outside a courthouse to protest against the arrest of Simon Oosterman (second from left), Auckland's 13 Feb 2005 WNBR organizer. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Respiratory Effects of a Reduction in Outdoor Air Pollution Concentrations (Abstract, Boogaard, Hanna; Fischer, Paul H. Janssen, Nicole A. H.; Kos, Gerard P. A. Weijers, Ernie P. Cassee, Flemming R.; van der Zee, Saskia C.; de Hartog, Jeroen J.; Meliefste, Kees; Wang, Meng Brunekreef, Bert; Hoek, Gerard,Epidemiology, Sep 2013)

Also discussed here: A case for “natural experiments” in urban health (OEH Science, Aug. 25, 2013)

Today we review research that examined the direct cause and effect between reducing traffic emissions on the one hand and improvement in health on the other. Results indicate a small but significant health improvement (up to 6%) from reduced air pollutant concentrations of 10-25%.

Key Quotes:

“this study demonstrates the impact of a reduction in urban air pollution in the same community, rather than using existing concentration-response functions from observational epidemiology”

“We assessed whether a reduction in (traffic policy-related) air pollution concentrations was associated with changes in respiratory health.”

“12 locations where air pollution (PM10, PM2.5, soot, NO2 and NOx) were measured included 8 busy urban streets in five cities that would be affected by the new policies and 4 suburban locations where the policies were very unlikely to have any impact”

“Results were driven largely by one street where traffic-related air pollution showed the largest reduction. Forced expiratory volume and FVC [forced vital capacity] improved by 3% to 6% in residents of this street compared with suburban background residents.”

“implementation of the policies did have some effect on average concentrations of the pollutions, but that overall the effect was small (~10-25%); for example PM10 levels reduced from 26.6 to 23.0 ug/m3, PM2.5 from 16.0 to 11.7 ug/m3 and NOx from 69.6 to 63.2 ug/m3. Correspondingly, the effects on measures of respiratory health (FVC and airway resistance) as well as exhaled NO were also relatively small (~1%).” 

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What is the Future of Local Air Quality Management in the UK?

Review of Effectiveness of LA AQAP and Future Policy Options for LAQM(64 page pdf, Stephen Moorcroft (AQC) and Chris Dore (Aether), Air Quality Consultants Ltd, June 2013)  

Also discussed here: Review of Local Air Quality Management in England(Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs, June 2013)

Today we review a two month consultation process (to end in September 2013)aimed at the future of local air quality management in the 250 cities in the UK which have agreed to Local Air Quality Management(LAQM) agreements since the enabling Act was passed in 1995 in response to concern about health impacts. A review was made of the effectiveness of the present system by interviews with 20 selected municipal authorities. The main outcome of the review was a lack of significant decreases in nitrogen dioxide, the main emission from vehicles, and without this, there is a question – especially from “non technical” people (one thinks of politicians), as opposed to those experienced in transportation - as to the effectiveness of the program to reduce health impacts. The conclusions seem to point to the need for a hybrid reduced emission-driven system that combines local hot spot management with authority-wide regulation and better communication of results to the public.

 

English: An Air Quality Monitoring Station above the M42. This Air Quality Monitoring Station is in Shadowbrook Lane, on a bridge above the M42. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Key Quotes:

 

“LAQM has been in place since 1997. While it has greatly improved our knowledge of the sources and extent of air pollution it has proved difficult to quantify the impacts and effectiveness of measures introduced to improve air quality”

“Authorities have been successful in implementing a wide range of measures, particularly within those areas for which the authority has direct control… there has been little evidence of nitrogen dioxide concentrations declining.”

 

“it is easier to sell the benefits in terms of “emissions reduction” to transport and development control planners, and to local politicians; where nitrogen dioxide concentrations are not declining, it is difficult to sell the benefits to non-specialist audiences…Air quality is often seen as a low priority issue by local politicians, businesses and members of the public.”

“The majority of the action plan measures fall into the broad categories of demand management (i.e. reducing road traffic) or the introduction of cleaner (low emission) vehicles.”

 

“more important that local authorities focus their actions on what is needed to achieve these obligations and to reduce the public health impacts of poor air quality rather than to continue their current focus on local assessment and reporting.”

“There are two potential approaches that could be used for an emissions-driven approach. These would be an “authority-wide” approach and a “hotspot-targeted” approach… Potentially much easier for a local authority to implement, and no need to undertake complex dispersion modelling studies. Scope of reduction is targeted upon local hotspots”

Related articles

• Government scrapping pollution monitoring
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What Improvements Are Needed to Regulate Urban Air Quality?

Air Implementation Pilot - Lessons learnt from the implementation of air quality legislation at urban level(76page pdf, European Environment Agency, Jun. 5, 2013)

Today we review a report from the European Commission on a pilot project carried out in 12 cities to assess and make recommendations on the deficiencies and next steps to address the threats to human health from urban air pollution. Despite (or perhaps because of) the enactment of more restrictive regulations than seen elsewhere in the world, several pollutants remain above thresholds (O3, PM2.5 and NO2 in particular), gaps remain in emission inventories and networks and the principal solution lies in regulating traffic. Recommendations include putting a much greater focus on data, distributing information to the public and carrying out regular health impact assessments.

Key Quotes:

“Eight cities originally took part in the pilot: Berlin, Dublin, Madrid, Malmö, Milan, Ploiesti, Prague, and Vienna. Four more cities subsequently joined at the end of 2012: Antwerp, Paris, Plovdiv, and Vilnius.”

Current Deficiencies:

• emission inventories…”Cities have problems taking into account all sources of pollution, due to the difficulty in finding available data, or because of the difficulty in appropriately quantifying different sources.”
• modeling.. “Because air quality models make use of emission inventories, often the shortcomings of these inventories carry over to the modelling activities”
• monitoring networks…”criterion for the macro‑scale siting of ozone stations (their distribution between urban and suburban locations) has not always been met”
• management practices…”In most of the cities, and in agreement with the main pollutant sources identified, more than the 50 % of the implemented measures are traffic related”
• public information…”the cities underuse mass media, social media websites, and new technologies like smartphone applications….cities lacked feedback on the interest of their citizens in air quality issues.”

“Next steps:

• focus on data. The Air Implementation Pilot has shown the importance of comparable, timely information on air quality, and the role of this information in improving implementation….
• streamline further its own information systems to support the implementation of EU air policy….
• deliver regular assessments of European air pollution, its impacts, and the effectiveness of air quality measures…”

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What Links the Population of Large Cities and Air Pollution?

Scaling Relationship for NO2 Pollution and Urban Population Size: A Satellite Perspective(Abstract, L. N. Lamsal, R. V. Martin, D. D. Parrish, and N. A. Krotkov, Environmental Science and Technology, Jun. 13, 2013)

Also quoted here: Scientists Relate Urban Population to Air Pollution(Science Daily, Aug. 19, 2013)

Today we review a new look at the relationship between the size of cities and the level of air pollution world-wide, as estimated from satellite measurements of nitrogen dioxide, whose main source is vehicle emissions. Although there were regional differences, the pollution more than doubled when a city’s population increased from 1 to 10 million and even more (by a factor of 5) in China with its large number of new megacities. This result has major implications for urban planning of developing large cities, especially where vehicle emissions is a major contributer to that pollution and little is being done to limit them.

Key Quotes:

“Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) released primarily from combustion processes, such as traffic, is a short-lived atmospheric pollutant that serves as an air-quality indicator and is itself a health concern.”

“The correlation of surface NO2 with population is significant for the three countries and one continent examined here: United States (r = 0.71), Europe (r = 0.67), China (r = 0.69), and India (r = 0.59)”

“a city of 1 million people in Europe experiences six times higher nitrogen dioxide pollution than an equally populated city of 1 million people in India” "Measurement of that relationship is potentially useful for developing future inventories and formulating air pollution control policies."

“The contribution to air pollution from surface-level NO2 in each region more than doubled when cities increased in population from 1 million to 10 million people,”

 "Despite large populations, Indian cities seem cleaner in terms of NO2 pollution than the study's other regions."

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• London schools 'face high pollution risk'
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Are Cities Prepared for Climate Change Impacts?

Campaign for Climate Resilience Spreads Across U.S.(Andrew Freedman, Jun. 19, 2013)

Also quoted here: Pound Foolish - Federal Community-Resilience Investments Swamped by Disaster Damages(15 page pdf, Daniel J. Weiss and Jackie Weidman Jun. 19, 2013)

And here:A Stronger, More Resilient New York (445 page pdf, PlaNYC, The City of New York, Jun. 21, 2013)

And here: Climate Change Adaptation: A Priorities Plan for Canada (150 page pdf, B. Feltmate and J. Thistlethwaite, Climate Change Adaptation Project(Canada), University of Waterloo, August 2012)

And here:
(4 min You-Tube, CBC, Jun. 21, 2013)

Today we review reports from the US and Canada that raise concerns about the lack of preparedness to the increase in extreme weather events in the last year (e.g. Hurricane Sandy and New York in October 2012 and heavy rainfall and flooding in Calgary and Toronto in June/July 2013) and, in broader terms, disasters that accompany climate change which particularly affect cities and their infrastructures. In the US, only $6 for disaster recovery is spent for every $1 to increase general community resilience and the costs for disaster cleanups have reached $110B over the last three years. The leadership shown by Mayor Bloomberg in his plan for the future (PlaNYC) to mitigate climate impacts is one that other Mayors could emulate. 

Key Quotes:

“In the wake of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s announcement of a $19.5 billion plan to make the Big Apple better prepared for future extreme weather events on the scale of Hurricane Sandy, dozens of other cities and counties in the U.S. are showing increased interest in pursuing so-called “climate resilience” plans.”

“Based on those figures, federal taxpayers spent nearly $6 for disaster recovery for every $1 spent to increase general community resilience over the past three years,”

“there were 11 extreme weather and climate events during 2012 that each topped $1 billion in damage costs, for an estimated total bill of $110 billion.. the federal government spent a total of only $22 billion on general resilience efforts from fiscal year 2011 to fiscal year 2013.. federal taxpayers spent nearly $6 for disaster recovery for every $1 spent to increase general community resilience over the past three years.”

“Human-induced climate change is projected to continue and accelerate significantly if emissions of heat-trapping gases continue to increase … with more climate-related impacts over the next few decades … Many [climate-related changes] will be disruptive to society because our institutions and infrastructure have been designed for the relatively stable climate of the past, not the changing one of the present and future”

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