Influence of walking route choice on primary school children's exposure to air pollution — A proof of concept study using simulation

Abstract

This study developed a walking network for the Greater Manchester area (UK). The walking network allows routes to be calculated either based on the shortest duration or based on the lowest cumulative nitrogen dioxide (NO2) or particulate matter (PM10) exposure. The aim of this study was to analyse the costs and benefits of faster routes versus lower pollution exposure for walking routes to primary schools.Random samples of primary schools and residential addresses were used to generate 100,000 hypothetical school routes. For 60% (59,992) and 40% (40,460) an alternative low NO2 and PM10 route was found, respectively. The median change in travel time (NO2: 4.5s, PM10: 0.5s) and average route exposure (NO2: −0.40μg/m3, PM10: −0.03μg/m3) was small. However, quantile regression analysis indicated that for 50% of routes a 1% increase in travel time was associated with a 1.5% decrease in NO2 and PM10 exposure.The results of this study suggest that the relative decrease in pollution exposure on low pollution routes tends to be greater than the relative increase in route length. This supports the idea that a route planning tool identifying less polluted routes to primary schools could help deliver potential health benefits for children.