Air Quality
Basics
Highway Boondoggle: Golden State’s Desert Destruction
California's $8-billion, 63-mile “High Desert Freeway" north of downtown Los Angeles would lead to more driving and more pollution, along with sprawling desert development.
June 24, 2019
Highway Boondoggles 2019: Nine Projects That Should Never Happen
Here's the thing with highway expansion projects: They're big. They're expensive. And they have limited benefit. Our friends at US PIRG present their annual report.
June 18, 2019
Federal unSAFE Rollbacks Would Have Dire Consequences for Air Quality
The federal proposal poses some very serious problems; litigation might delay them, but few want to talk about other solutions
June 6, 2019
The Persistent Racial Disparities of Motor Vehicle Pollution
While tailpipe emissions have been lowered across the board, racial disparities persist in exposure to fine particles from motor vehicles.
October 17, 2017
Urban Myth Busting: Congestion, Idling, and Carbon Emissions
Increasing road capacity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will backfire.
July 6, 2017
America Builds Too Many Schools By Highways
One in 11 U.S. public schools are within 500 feet of a highway, exposing 4.4 million children to elevated levels of pollution, putting kids at elevated risk of developing asthma. But cheap land remains alluring to school districts, and America's system of school siting is not getting better.
February 21, 2017
How to Breathe Cleaner Air While Biking: Ride at 11 MPH
Portland State University Ph.D candidate Alex Bigazzi has been biking around Portland with a $300 homebuilt air quality monitor. His goal: to get a sense of how much pollution he was breathing and how to minimize exposure to harmful fumes. Bigazzi has recently been sharing his findings around Portland.
July 24, 2014
New Research Suggests Separation Key to Protecting Cyclists From Pollution
The fresh air and physical activity that come with cycling are great for your health. But for urban cyclists, one downside is that it comes with a potentially harmful dose of air pollution.
June 19, 2014
How Road Planners Fail Neighborhoods
Why do neighborhood groups -- especially in low-income areas -- have such a hard time influencing the design of major road projects? An interesting case study from the University of Colorado-Denver sheds some light.
June 4, 2014