Current Science

Open Access Open Access  Restricted Access Subscription Access

Quantification of reduction in air pollution due to bypassing traffic in Delhi, India


Affiliations
1 Transportation Planning and Environment Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi 110 025, India
 

The worldwide known relationship between transport and air pollution is demanding innovative solutions for satisfying the mobility needs with minimum pollution. While reducing the mobility demand is a longterm target, the most commonly adopted approach is to decongest the ‘hot spots’ having an alarming level of pollution. The main objective of providing bypasses and expressways is to divert the through traffic coming into the city. Delhi is one of the most congested and polluted cities in India. Among the various sources, vehicular pollution is a significant source of air pollution. Different policies and strategies have been developed to decongest and depollute Delhi. The Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) is one such option implemented to decongest the national capital of India by diverting the traffic not destined for Delhi. It becomes essential to evaluate the performance of such significant infrastructural investments for better decision making in the future. Accordingly, the present study quantifies the impact of constructed EPE in terms of diverted traffic and the reduction of vehicular pollution from the capital of India. For this, various primary surveys like classified traffic volume, origin–destination and fuel station surveys were conducted in the study area. Vehicle kilometre travelled for all vehicle types was calculated using the primary data, and this parameter is considered for quantifying vehicular emissions. The results showed that reduction of vehicular emission due to diverted traffic was 0.7% of PM (PM2.5), 7.1% of NOx and 2.5% CO in the total vehicular emission load of Delhi.

Keywords

Air pollution, bypassing traffic, expressway, travel demand estimation, vehicular emission load.
User
Notifications
Font Size

  • Vitkūnas, R. and Meidutė, I., Evaluation of bypass influence on reducing air pollution in Vilnius city. Transport, 2011, 26(1), 43– 49; doi:10.3846/16484142.2011.561004.

  • WHO, Ambient air pollution: a global assessment of exposure and burden of disease, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2016.

  • WHO, Air pollution and health: Summary, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 2019; https://www.who.int/ airpollutionambient/about/en/ (accessed on 24 July 2019).

  • Dirgahayani, P., Environmental co-benefits of public transportation improvement initiative: the case of Trans-Jogja bus system in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. J. Clean. Prod., 2013, 58, 74–81.

  • Sun, C., Zhang, W., Luo, Y. and Xu, Y., The improvement and substitution effect of transportation infrastructure on air quality: an empirical evidence from China’s rail transit construction. Energy Policy, 2019, 129, 949–957.

  • Dahiya, S., Myllyvirta, L. and Sivalingam, N., Airpocalypse: assessment of air pollution in Indian cities. Greenpeace Clean Air Nation. Green Peace Environment Trust, 2017.

  • Economic Survey of Delhi, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi, 2019.

  • MoRTH, Road Transport Yearbook (2015–16), Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, GoI, 2018.

  • Jerrett, M. et al., Automobile traffic around the home and attained body mass index: a longitudinal cohort study of children aged 10–18 years. Prev. Med., 2010, 50, S50–S58 (PubMed: 19850068).

  • The Commission for Air Quality Management in National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (GOI Ordinance 2020).

  • IITK, Comprehensive study on air pollution and greenhouse gases (GHGs) in Delhi (Final report: air pollution component). Prepared by IIT Kanpur for the Department of Environment, Government of the National Capital Territory of Delhi and Delhi Pollution Control Committee, IIT Kanpur, 2016.

  • CPCB, Status of pollution generated from road transport in six mega cities. Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Government of India (GoI), 2015; http://cpcb.nic.in/cpcbold/upload/NewItems/NewItem_ 215_Report_Status_RoadTransport_SixCities.pdf

  • Census of India 2011: Rural Urban Distribution of Population. Registrar General of India, New Delhi, India; http://www.censusindia.gov.in/2011census/population_enumeration.html (accessed 5 July 2014).

  • Master Plan for Delhi, Delhi Development Authority, New Delhi, 2021; https://dda.org.in/tendernotices_docs/may1/MPD-2021_31.03.2017260417.pdf

  • PTV VISUM (Planung Transport Verkehr AG) Visum 12 Software and User Manual. PTV, Karlsruhe, Germany, 2011.

  • CPCB, Transportation fuel quality for year 2005. PROBES/78/2000-01, Central Pollution Control Board, Ministry of Environment and Forests, GoI, 2000.

  • Sharma, N., Kumar, P. V., Kumar, P., Singh, A., Dhyani, R., Sekhar, C. R. and Ravinder, K., Measurement of idling fuel consumption and estimation of emission at selected signalized intersections

  • in Delhi. J. Clean. Prod., 2019, 212, 8–19.

  • Indo-HCM, Indian Highway Capacity Manual, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi, 2017.


Abstract Views: 345

PDF Views: 144




  • Quantification of reduction in air pollution due to bypassing traffic in Delhi, India

Abstract Views: 345  |  PDF Views: 144

Authors

Ch. Ravi Sekhar
Transportation Planning and Environment Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi 110 025, India
Niraj Sharma Sharma
Transportation Planning and Environment Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi 110 025, India
Mukti Advani
Transportation Planning and Environment Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi 110 025, India
Ravindra Kumar
Transportation Planning and Environment Division, CSIR-Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi 110 025, India

Abstract


The worldwide known relationship between transport and air pollution is demanding innovative solutions for satisfying the mobility needs with minimum pollution. While reducing the mobility demand is a longterm target, the most commonly adopted approach is to decongest the ‘hot spots’ having an alarming level of pollution. The main objective of providing bypasses and expressways is to divert the through traffic coming into the city. Delhi is one of the most congested and polluted cities in India. Among the various sources, vehicular pollution is a significant source of air pollution. Different policies and strategies have been developed to decongest and depollute Delhi. The Eastern Peripheral Expressway (EPE) is one such option implemented to decongest the national capital of India by diverting the traffic not destined for Delhi. It becomes essential to evaluate the performance of such significant infrastructural investments for better decision making in the future. Accordingly, the present study quantifies the impact of constructed EPE in terms of diverted traffic and the reduction of vehicular pollution from the capital of India. For this, various primary surveys like classified traffic volume, origin–destination and fuel station surveys were conducted in the study area. Vehicle kilometre travelled for all vehicle types was calculated using the primary data, and this parameter is considered for quantifying vehicular emissions. The results showed that reduction of vehicular emission due to diverted traffic was 0.7% of PM (PM2.5), 7.1% of NOx and 2.5% CO in the total vehicular emission load of Delhi.

Keywords


Air pollution, bypassing traffic, expressway, travel demand estimation, vehicular emission load.

References





DOI: https://doi.org/10.18520/cs%2Fv120%2Fi10%2F1600-1610