Assessment of the burden on population due to transport-related air pollution: The Czech core motorway network

Pařil, Vilém; Tóthová, Dominika

Abstract Negative externalities of transport are a crucial issue in environmental discussion and policy. The mobility of our society is responsible for many negative environmental impacts, both on our planet and on human health. This paper aims to assess one aspect of a negative externality of transport related to air pollution from particulate matter up to 10 micrometers in diameter (PM10) and its impact on human health, using the example of the key Czech Republic highway D1. The assessment method precisely follows the geographical routing of this motorway through varying elevations in which different buffer zones are identified to assess PM10 concentration changes according to distance from the road in the 2007–2016 period. The resulting relation between PM10 and highway proximity is then discussed in an econometric analysis of the entire road transport network of the Czech Republic. In the final step, we assess the size and demographic structure of the population affected by the highway PM10 pollution problem, and we compare several methods to assess economically related morbidity. The results show falling levels of PM10 pollution, not only with increasing distance but also in intertemporal comparison, with concentrations lower by 2μg.m3 in the 2012–2016 period than in 2007–2011 despite increasing road traffic on the highway. This means a very significant reduction in the number of cases and economic value for all analysed endpoints between EUR 485,056 and 842,891.