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Sick Cities Diagnosis:
Traffic Gridlock, Air Pollution and Urban Sprawl
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From The White House to the statehouse, from the county
courthouse to the average suburban house, transportation and air quality
issues have captured attention this year. There are plans for new federal
transportation and pollution control initiatives, regional
transportation authorities, county bus systems, carpooling and
telecommuting.
Why all the flurry of activity? There's a crisis, and
people are finally starting to realize it. Traffic congestion and poor
air quality — stemming in part from urban sprawl — are affecting
people's lives on a daily basis.
"Americans are a crisis-oriented society," says Dr. Michael Rodgers,
director of the Air Quality Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of
Technology in Atlanta. "They respond well to crises.... Now, the
issue has percolated up in the public and political consciousness, and
that is providing an opportunity to do something about the problems."
Researchers at Georgia Tech recognized the coming crisis a decade ago
when they began the ongoing
Southern Oxidants Study, a
multi-institutional effort that has uncovered causes of and remedies for
the ozone pollution that manifests itself as smog. Ozone forms from a
chemical reaction between volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen
oxides (NOx). Automobiles and power plants are major emitters of VOCs
and NOx, but they also come from natural sources. Ozone is associated
with lung dysfunction in humans and significant losses in agricultural
productivity.
With a rising tide of concern over these emissions, Georgia Tech
researchers began to link their work in air quality with their
traditionally strong transportation research program about five years
ago. Today, public and private funds support $6 million a year in
transportation-related research at Georgia Tech, making it the sixth
largest such research program in the nation.
It encompasses research conducted in the School of Civil and
Environmental Engineering, the College of Architecture's City Planning
Program, the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the Georgia
Tech Research Institute. Much of this work is conducted under the
umbrella of the
Georgia Transportation Institute, a multi-university
initiative formed two years ago with funds from the Georgia Department
of Transportation.
The research spans the spectrum from basic science to technological
solutions to policy initiatives in addressing the issues of traffic
congestion, air quality and urban sprawl. The focus is national, even
international in some cases, but most studies are using metropolitan
Atlanta as their case study.
"Atlanta is a good laboratory for transportation research," says Dr.
Michael Meyer, head of the School of Civil and Environmental
Engineering. "It has air quality and land use problems that are fairly
typical of most urban areas in the United States."
What characterizes a fairly typical urban area? Freeways and surface
streets are jammed during rush hour commutes and when accidents occur.
Frustrated commuters complain, yet remain hesitant to use public
transportation — if it's even available. Ozone pollution levels often
exceed federal standards in spring and summer. And thousands of acres of
forests and green spaces are lost annually to residential and commercial
developments in the suburbs.
With these issues to tackle in Atlanta and nationwide, government
officials and the public are calling upon academia for both realistic
and futuristic answers as the 21st century quickly approaches.
"Georgia Tech is uniquely qualified to help government and the business
sector improve Atlanta's transportation system," says Meyer, referring
to the Metro Atlanta Transportation Initiative that he and other Georgia
Tech researchers joined last year. "With internationally known programs
in civil and environmental engineering and city planning, in particular,
we have the knowledge and expertise that can inform the decisions that
will have to be made by the governor and local officials."
Researchers are responding with data and proposals for short- and
long-term solutions. This fall, researchers expect to unveil a new
vehicle emissions model that accounts for vehicle operation modes such
as cruise and idle, rather than just average speed. It is expected to
more accurately estimate emissions, giving transportation planners more
precise direction for their initiatives. Also, Georgia Tech continues to
conduct the world's longest-running vehicle emissions monitoring
program, which is helping to validate the new emissions model.
Another research program is developing a traffic congestion index that
could forecast road conditions like meteorologists forecast the weather.
Meanwhile, city planning researchers are correlating vehicle miles
traveled, emissions and land use patterns of households. Their findings
are supporting proposals for in-fill development — such as
revitalization of old shopping areas.
The Southern Oxidants Study continues to investigate the processes that
foster ozone pollution in urban and rural environments, leading to
proposals for effective pollution control strategies. In hopes of
changing public travel patterns, other atmospheric chemists are
developing models to more accurately forecast conditions that lead to
exceedances of federal air quality standards for ozone.
Still other researchers are exploring technological solutions to traffic
problems. They include information systems to automate credentialing and
permitting for commercial vehicles, and infrared cameras that help
officials monitor vehicle occupancy and assess the effectiveness of
their carpooling programs.
Researchers are actively involved in professional and public programs
aimed at solving the problems. They see it as their responsibility to
confront this transportation and air quality crisis in America,
beginning with Atlanta and extending far beyond.
"We just haven't put the puzzle pieces together yet," Meyer says, in
describing the crisis. "It has a lot to do with politics. People don't
want any infringement on their travel and growth. And that's not just in
Atlanta...."
Despite the politics, research must continue into all possible
transportation solutions because crises change people's opinions, Meyer
says. For example, people in southern California accepted differential
toll roads, where drivers pay tolls depending on the time of day they
use the freeway. "Things can change overnight," Meyer says. "If it gets
bad enough, people will accept some of these traditionally difficult
options."
photo by Meg Buscema, MARTA
Like most cities, Atlanta
is threatened by increasing levels of
air pollution and traffic congestion. Georgia Tech researchers are
exploring ways to lower vehicle emissions pollution and remedy some of
traffic's major problems.
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