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