The Effect of Route Choice in Children’s Exposure to Ultrafine Particles Whilst Walking to School

Mehrdad Rafiepourgatabi, Alistair Woodward, Jennifer A. Salmond and Kim Natasha Dirks
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Mehrdad Rafiepourgatabi: School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand
Alistair Woodward: School of Population Health, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1023, New Zealand
Jennifer A. Salmond: School of Environment, Faculty of Science, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
Kim Natasha Dirks: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Auckland, Auckland 1142, New Zealand

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: Children walking to school are at a high risk of exposure to air pollution compared with other modes because of the time they spend in close proximity to traffic during their commute. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of a walker’s route choice on their exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) on the walk to school. During morning commutes over a period of three weeks, exposure to UFP was measured along three routes: two routes were alongside both sides of a busy arterial road with significantly higher levels of traffic on one side compared to the other, and the third route passed through quiet streets (the background route). The results indicate that the mean exposure for the pedestrian walking along the background route was half the exposure experienced on the other two routes. Walkers on the trafficked side were exposed to elevated concentrations (>100,000 pt/cc) 2.5 times longer than the low-trafficked side. However, the duration of the elevated exposure for the background route was close to zero. Public health officials and urban planners may use the results of this study to promote healthier walking routes to schools, especially those planned as part of organized commutes.

Keywords: UFP exposure; children; walking; route choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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