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High-Resolution Cumulative Exposure Assessment of Traffic-Related Air Pollution with Different Google Navigation Route Options
MINMENG TANG, Deb Niemeier, University of California, Davis
Abstract Number: 587
Working Group: Aerosol Exposure
Abstract
In this paper, we calculate exposure concentrations of traffic-related air pollutants for different traffic modes in the urban environment. We simulate 5,000 trips in Oakland California, US, and calculate the exposure concentrations of nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and black carbon (BC) using high-resolution sensors measured air pollution concentration data. These data were collected by Aclima and Google. For each bicycle, transit, and vehicle trip simulation, we calculate the average concentrations and the cumulative exposure of all three pollutants. The cumulative exposure is calculated as the total mass of pollutants being inhaled within the trip. Our results show that cumulative exposure is a more useful metric to assess travel pollutant exposure than average concentration, which is typical in the literature. For all three traffic modes, the average concentrations of each trip are not significantly different. But due to the trip duration and route variations for different traffic modes and the inhalation rates, the cumulative exposure of different traffic modes varies dramatically. Cumulative exposure for those in vehicles tends to be lowest, as well as having the lowest average per meter and per minute exposure based on all simulated trips. Bicyclists and public transit users tend to experience higher cumulative exposures because of the increased inhalation rate and the longer trip duration, respectively. Last but not least, our study shows that total trip duration is more important than total trip distance for air pollution exposure; the shortest duration routes also tend to produce less air pollution exposure than the shortest distance route.