Abstract Background A travel mode shift to active transportation such as bicycling would help reduce traffic volume and related air pollution emissions as well as promote increased physical activity level. Cyclists, however, are at risk for exposure to vehicle-related air pollutants due to their proximity to vehicle traffic and elevated respiratory rates. To promote safe bicycle commuting, the City of Berkeley, California, has designated a network of residential streets as “Bicycle Boulevards.” We hypothesized that cyclist exposure to air pollution would be lower on these Bicycle Boulevards when compared to busier roads and this elevated exposure may result in reduced lung function. Methods We recruited 15 healthy adults to cycle on two routes – a low-traffic Bicycle Boulevard route and a high-traffic route. Each participant cycled on the low-traffic route once and the high-traffic route once. We mounted pollutant monitors and a global positioning system (GPS) on the bicycles. The monitors were all synced to GPS time so pollutant measurements could be spatially plotted. We measured lung function using spirometry before and after each bike ride. Results We found that fine and ultrafine particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and black carbon were all elevated on the high-traffic route compared to the low-traffic route. There were no corresponding changes in the lung function of healthy non-asthmatic study subjects. We also found that wind-speed affected pollution concentrations. Conclusions These results suggest that by selecting low-traffic Bicycle Boulevards instead of heavily trafficked roads, cyclists can reduce their exposure to vehicle-related air pollution. The lung function results indicate that elevated pollutant exposure may not have acute negative effects on healthy cyclists, but further research is necessary to determine long-term effects on a more diverse population. This study and broader field of research have the potential to encourage policy-makers and city planners to expand infrastructure to promote safe and healthy bicycle commuting.


    Access

    Download


    Export, share and cite



    Title :

    Cyclist route choice, traffic-related air pollution, and lung function: a scripted exposure study


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Environmental Health ; 12 , 1 ; 1-12


    Publication date :

    2013-02-07


    Size :

    12 pages




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English




    A bi-objective cyclist route choice model

    Ehrgott, Matthias | Online Contents | 2012



    Modeling Cyclist Route Choice using Revealed Preference Data: An Age and Gender Perspective

    Misra, Aditi / Watkins, Kari | Transportation Research Record | 2018


    METHOD AND APPARATUS TO DETECT SCRIPTED NETWORK TRAFFIC

    HERLEY CORMAC / TU FANG / CAO CHENG et al. | European Patent Office | 2021

    Free access