Investigation of a river-tunnel effect on PM2.5 concentrations in New York City subway stations

Details

• Alternative Title:
  Transp Res D Transp Environ
• Personal Author:
  Luglio, David G. ; Huynh, Tri ; Saporito, Antonio ; Gordon, Terry
• Description:
  It is well-documented that subway stations exhibit high fine particulate matter (PM|) concentrations. Little is known about the potential of river-tunnels to increase PM| concentrations in subways. We hypothesized a "river-tunnel" effect exists: Stations adjacent to poorly ventilated tunnels that travel beneath rivers exhibit higher PM| concentrations than more distant stations. Accordingly, the PM| concentrations were monitored at stations adjacent to and two- and three-stations distant from the river-tunnel. Multivariate linear regression analysis was conducted to disentangle how proximity to a river-tunnel and other factors (e.g., depth) influence concentrations. Stations adjacent to a river-tunnel had 80-130% higher PM| concentrations than more distant stations. Moreover, distance from a river-tunnel was the strongest PM|-influencing factor This distance effect was not observed at underground stations adjacent to a river-bridge. The "river-tunnel" effect explains some of the inter-station variability in subway PM| concentrations. These results support the need for improving ventilation systems in subways.
• Keywords:
  Fine Particulate Matter New York City Occupational Health PM2.5 Subway Urban Air Pollution
• Source:
  Transp Res D Transp Environ. 115
• Pubmed ID:
  36711192
• Pubmed Central ID:
  PMC9879276
• Document Type:
  Journal Article
• Funding:
  P30 ES000260/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T32 ES007324/ES/NIEHS NIH HHSUnited States/ ; T42 OH008422/OH/NIOSH CDC HHSUnited States/
• Volume:
  115
• Collection(s):
  CDC Public Access
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:444700c1b9d07c8f897d5d104ea4ec5d6f8e63c260085f7200653d15c1a36bd7
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/124145/cdc_124145_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 1.03 MB ]