Hyperlocal monitoring of traffic-related air pollution to assess near-term impacts of sustainable transportation interventions

Traffic and air pollution are two of the South Coast Air Basin's most difficult challenges for environmental sustainability. This challenge also exists at local levels, such as in the City of Riverside, where two major highways service the area (CA 60/I-215 and CA 91), and background air pollution is high in the afternoons due to pollution transport and photochemistry. The South Coast Air Quality Management District predicts continued increases in VMT in the Basin, while secondary ozone levels are also beginning to increase after decades-long reductions. Heavy-duty trips are also increasing due to increasing goods movement activity in inland Southern California. Therefore, it can be conjectured that traffic-related air pollution will continue to be a challenge for the City of Riverside, whose corridors service a high volume of logistics activity. This project proposes a low-cost, measurement-based approach for assessing the impacts of sustainable traffic interventions on local air pollution. Traffic-related air pollutions, NO2 and PM2.5, will be measured along an urban corridor while simultaneously implementing eco-driving strategies as vehicles pass through signalized intersections. The chosen testbed location is the City of Riverside Innovation Corridor, a six-mile roadway that services downtown Riverside, the University of California, Riverside, and several businesses and community organizations. Evaluation of traffic and air quality feedbacks in the testbed will provide insight into the effectiveness of wider-scale implementation of smart transportation technologies in the City of Riverside for the improvement of local air quality.Funding provided by: National Center for Sustainable Transportation*Crossref Funder Registry ID: Award Number: DOT 69A3551747114Data were derived from the following sources: Clarity Node S measurements along University Avenue in Riverside, California (USA) California Air Resources Board AQMIS2 online database Openweathermap.org GridSmart traffic monitoring at Iowa Avenue and University Avenue in Riverside, California (USA) Caltrans Performance Measurement System Google Maps trip time dat