U.S. Transit Policy Fuels Health Problems, Critics Say

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, August 20, 2003 (ENS) - Americans are driving themselves into a major health problem, public health and transportation experts say.

Although clean air laws and advanced automotive technologies have effectively reduced pollution, these gains are being negated by an increasing number of Americans taking to the roads each year, according to a report released Tuesday by the Surface Transportation Policy Project (STTP).

The report finds air quality has gotten worse in many U.S. metropolitan areas over the past decade and nearly half of all Americans breathe healthy air.

Reversing this trend, according to STTP, requires enforcing clean air laws and regulations along with long term and creative transportation policy that gives Americans alternatives to driving.

Growing traffic is an increasing problem in many cities around the United States. (Photo by Ian Britton courtesy FreeFoto.com)

There is little question Americans are driving more.

Over the past three decades, the amount of driving is up 162 percent and the number of daily vehicle trips made is up 57 percent, according to federal statistics.

And the report says this growth in driving is undermining the 90 percent reduction of tailpipe emissions made since 1970.

Transportation is responsible for more than 50 percent of carbon monoxide emissions, 25 percent of fine particle soot, 34 percent of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions, and more than 29 percent of hydrocarbon emissions.

NOx and hydrocarbon emissions combine in sunlight to form ozone or smog.

STPP's analysis of the last ten years of air quality data collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency shows that the number of days of unhealthy smog levels nationally has held just about steady over the last decade.

Smog creates serious public health concerns and STTP's review of new scientific studies shows increasing evidence linking air pollution to asthma, heart disease and certain cancers.

The public health costs of pollution from cars and trucks have been estimated at between $40 billion and $64 billion per year. But public health experts are quick to point out that it is not just money that is being wasted.

"The public health impact of air pollutants from cars and trucks is enormous," said Dr. Howard Frumkin, an Emory University environmental and occupational health expert.

Air pollution disproportionately affects the young. (Photo courtesy Boston Public Schools)

Asthma and other ailments associated with air pollution disproportionately impact the poor and the young, says STTP's report.

Of these ailments, it is asthma that has many in the American public health arena most concerned.

Some 20 million to 25 million Americans suffer from asthma and childhood asthma in the United States has more than doubled in the last two decades.

"Asthma is the leading cause of hospitalization of children," says Dr. Carlos Camargo, an asthma specialist and emergency room doctor at Massachusetts General Hospital. "When air pollution rises, asthma attacks increase."

There is no direct correlation between asthma and air pollution, but transportation-related air pollution, specifically ground level ozone and particulate matter (PM) from cars and heavy duty vehicles, has been found to severely exacerbate asthma in both adults and children.

"The problem is not that people drive cars," Frumkin said. "It is that our transportation system relies more and more exclusively on cars."

Steering Congress or the Bush administration toward a policy that could reverse this growing dependence will not be easy, Canby says.

This is the year Congress is slated to reauthorize the nation's $250 billion, six year transportation spending plan, but there is little sign this will be accomplished before the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2003.

Financial conditions and disagreement over how to fund increases for transportation investments have stalled efforts in both the House and the Senate.

A draft Senate plan that was circulated in June raised flags for STTP and others because it would ease state compliance with provisions that balance transportation projects with air pollution requirements and would relax environmental reviews of federal transit projects.

The draft bill increases federal highway spending by 24 percent over six years while decreasing federal funds for mass transit by eight percent over the same period.

The long range strategy to reduce air pollution involves offering options to get people out of cars and off the roads. (Photo courtesy EPA)

And traffic congestion is a serious problem - Americans on average four times as long sitting in traffic today compared to two decades ago. The Department of Transportation estimates the cost of traffic congestion is $72 billion annually in terms of hours of lost time and wasted fuel.

But the short term focus on reducing traffic congestion will continue to push Americans into their cars and on to the roads, says Canby, who is the former head of the state departments of transportation in New Jersey and Delaware and former deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.

"Transportation investment must do more, not less, to protect Americans from unhealthy air," Canby said.

STPP says Congress and the administration need to support more mass transit, better sidewalks, increased bicycle paths and efforts to reduce sprawl in order to provide legitimate alternatives to the car.

"Sensible balanced transportation policy is good public health policy," Frumkin. "But public health is often an afterthought for transportation decision makers."

For a copy of STPP's report, see http://www.transact.org