Evaluation of the Impact of Low Emission Zone and Heavy Traffic Ban in Munich (Germany) on the Reduction of PM10 in Ambient Air

Concentrations of ambient fine particles (PM10: particles with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 µm) are still exceeding current air quality standards in many European cities. In Munich (Germany), low emission zone and transit bans for heavy-duty vehicles were introduced in 2008 aiming at reduction of traffic emissions contribution to PM10. The effects of those measures on PM10 mass concentrations in Munich were investigated with a semiparametric regression model for modeling PM10 levels adjusted for time, background pollution, public holidays and wind direction. The reduction of PM10 concentration after the introduction of the measures was larger at a traffic monitoring site (13.0 %, 19.6 % in summer, and 6.8 % in winter) and smaller in urban background (4.5 %, 5.7 % in summer, and 3.2 % in winter). The effect was most pronounced on Fridays and on the weekends in summer.

[1]  Frank D Gilliland,et al.  Recent evidence for adverse effects of residential proximity to traffic sources on asthma , 2008, Current opinion in pulmonary medicine.

[2]  H. R. Anderson,et al.  The impact of the congestion charging scheme on ambient air pollution concentrations in London , 2009 .

[3]  Peter Builtjes,et al.  Einrichtung einer Umweltzone und ihre Wirksamkeit auf die PM10-Feinstaubkonzentration — eine Pilotanalyse am Beispiel München , 2013 .

[4]  J D Kaufman,et al.  Cardiovascular Disease and Air Pollutants: Evaluating and Improving Epidemiological Data Implicating Traffic Exposure , 2007, Inhalation toxicology.

[5]  D. Dockery,et al.  Health Effects of Fine Particulate Air Pollution: Lines that Connect , 2006, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[6]  R. Colvile,et al.  The transport sector as a source of air pollution , 2001 .

[7]  Who Europe.  Air Quality Guidelines Global Update 2005: Particulate Matter, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide , 2006 .

[8]  Zissis Samaras,et al.  Impact of European emission control strategies on urban and local air quality , 2011 .

[9]  C. Johansson,et al.  The effects of congestions tax on air quality and health. , 2009 .

[10]  G. Dropkin.  Low dose radiation and cancer in A-bomb survivors: latency and non-linear dose-response in the 1950–90 mortality cohort , 2007, Environmental health : a global access science source.

[11]  Matthias Ketzel,et al.  What are the Impacts on Air Quality of Low Emission Zones in Denmark , 2011 .

[12]  D. Groneberg,et al.  Zur Wirksamkeit von Umweltzonen: Design einer Studie zur Ermittlung der Schadstoffkonzentrationsänderung für Staubpartikel (PM10) und andere Größen durch Einführung von Umweltzonen in 20 deutschen Städten , 2011 .

[13]  J C Chow,et al.  Concentrations and source contributions of particulate organic matter before and after implementation of a low emission zone in Munich, Germany. , 2013, Environmental pollution.

[14]  Jukka Corander,et al.  Bayesian semi-parametric forecasting of ultrafine particle number concentration with penalised splines and autoregressive errors , 2012, 1207.0558.

[15]  Simon Kingham,et al.  Traffic-related differences in outdoor and indoor concentrations of particles and volatile organic compounds in Amsterdam , 2000 .

[16]  D. Brugge,et al.  Near-highway pollutants in motor vehicle exhaust: A review of epidemiologic evidence of cardiac and pulmonary health risks , 2007, Environmental health : a global access science source.

[17]  S. Wigham,et al.  The Effects of Traumatizing Life Events on People With Intellectual Disabilities: A Systematic Review , 2011 .

[18]  Adrian G Barnett,et al.  Regression to the mean: what it is and how to deal with it. , 2004, International journal of epidemiology.

[19]  Bert Brunekreef,et al.  Impact of low emission zones and local traffic policies on ambient air pollution concentrations. , 2012, The Science of the total environment.

[20]  S. Wood.  Generalized Additive Models: An Introduction with R , 2006 .

[21]  Alexandra Schneider,et al.  Health effects of particulate air pollution: A review of epidemiological evidence , 2011, Inhalation toxicology.

[22]  J. Samet.  Traffic, Air Pollution, and Health , 2007, Inhalation toxicology.

[23]  Gary W. Fuller,et al.  A large reduction in airborne particle number concentrations at the time of the introduction of “sulphur free” diesel and the London Low Emission Zone , 2012 .

[24]  James V. Zidek,et al.  Spatial–temporal models for ambient hourly PM10 in Vancouver , 1999 .

[25]  S. Beevers,et al.  The impact of congestion charging on vehicle emissions in London , 2005 .

[26]  Stephen Greaves,et al.  Five years of London’s low emission zone: Effects on vehicle fleet composition and air quality , 2013 .

[27]  Annette Peters,et al.  Low emission zones reduce PM10 mass concentrations and diesel soot in German cities , 2014, Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association.

[28]  D. Altman,et al.  Analysing controlled trials with baseline and follow up measurements , 2001, BMJ : British Medical Journal.

[29]  B. Armstrong,et al.  Air pollution and mortality benefits of the London Congestion Charge: spatial and socioeconomic inequalities , 2008, Occupational and Environmental Medicine.