Urban traffic air pollution - case study City of Vranje, Serbia

Abstract

The expansion of urban areas with unequal, rapidly growing population results in higher vehicle numbers in the cities. Traffic in the urban environment is one of the main concerns, since it is one of the most prominent sources of air pollution, connected to the mortality rate. Regarding the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and SDG 11, urban areas should meet environmental needs following the process of environmental transition. The Vranje city, Serbia follows the global trend of vehicle number increment. Regarding the specific geomorphological and climate conditions, it is of importance to emphasize the traffic air pollution control in the urban environment. Numerous studies found that vehicular exhaust emissions near traffic intersections are largely dependent on fleet speed, queuing time in idle mode with a red signal time, traffic-flow rate, ambient conditions, etc. Traffic management has the key role, especially regarding the intersection of traffic flows, since there are time losses on the intersections’ driveways that increase the energy consumption to overcome certain conflict flows. The scope of this study should point out the importance of traffic planning and management, especially at the traffic flows for reducing air pollution in the urban environment.