[Manuscript in Preparation] Correlation of Air Pollution and Traffic Volume: Comparison between Road Density and Traffic Volume Estimates
Abstract
This study examined the correlation between air pollution and traffic using nationwide traffic estimates and compared the correlation with road density, which is used as a traffic surrogates. The research data used VKT (Vehicle Kilometers Traveled) based on traffic volume estimated using an Equilibrium Assignment Model and road density calculated using road network data. As air pollutants, we used the annual average concentrations of PM10 and NO2, which reported to be major emission sources from traffic. Then, the Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated between the annual average concentration of monitoring stations and the sum of VKT and road density of the buffer by the monitoring stations. The results showed that NO2 more highly correlated with VKT than road density, and more highly correlated with road density using only major roads. This study is meaningful in that it is the first to confirm correlation traffic volume estimated at a national scale correlation with air pollutants.
