Rerouting urban construction transport flows to avoid air pollution hotspots

Abstract

Currently, over 96% of the urban population is exposed to exceeding air pollution concentrations. Freight transport daily engenders €61,604 of air pollution health costs in the Brussels-Capital Region (BCR), of which 60% is incurred by vulnerable population segments. The construction sector is responsible for 26.40% of truck traffic in the BCR. This paper examines the exposure effects when off-site construction logistics flows are redirected around air pollution hotspots. Consequently, alternative routing scenarios are computed, and its emission dispersed assuming a Gaussian relation. Concentrations are then associated to spatiotemporal receptor densities. The health impact is monetized using hospital exposure-response functions. While overall emissions increase across all scenarios, health costs are mitigated up to 25.53% by rerouting existing flows. This study suggests to decouple policies from absolute transport emissions and focus on its health impact, considering spatiotemporal dynamics of both emissions and receptors.