CREDIT:
AP
As commuters in other large
cities rely more and more onpublic
transit, Los Angeles still boasts the worst
trafficin the U.S. The epic congestion isn’t just frustrating for
drivers — it’s also putting communities close to the highway at higher risk for
serious health problems.
Next year, for the first
time, regulators from the Environmental Protection Agency will start monitoring
air quality near major
Southern California freeways in order to determine how harmful pollution levels
are for the roughly 1 million people living within 300 feet of these roads.
Independent studies found
that pollution concentrations around LA commuter corridors are as much as 10
times higher than anywhere else in the city. Pollutants emitted from cars are
linked to respiratory illnesses like asthma and bronchitis, as well as heart
disease and lung cancer. Californians are certainly feeling the effects;
between 2005 and 2007, pollution-related illnesses in California cost state,
federal and private health insurers more than
$193 million.
The new EPA rule will place
air quality monitors within 160 feet of major roads in 100 large metropolitan
areas. Nationally, 10 percent of Americans — 35 million people — live within
300 feet of a four-lane highway. Yet government regulators do not even know if
pollution levels in neighborhoods near major roads are within safe levels.
Ultrafine particulates flowing out of car exhaust pipes have gone unregulated
by the EPA, even though the agency estimates they kill 80,000 to
100,000 Americans
per year.
Since real estate closest
to major commuter corridors is considered less desirable, these communities
tend to be poorer and populated by minorities. Boyle Heights, one of LA’s
poorest neighborhoods with 90 percent Latino residents, is surrounded by
freeways and rail yards constantly spewing particulate matter. The neighborhood
was part of a larger study last year concluding that Latinos, Asians, and
African Americans in urban areas suffer
the most exposure to
particularly toxic pollutants, like the nitrates in exhaust fumes.
As the state with the worst
air, California has aggressively enacted strict legislation to curb auto
emissions over the
past decade. Still, about 70
percentof LA commuters drive alone in their own cars every day,
spending an average of 59 hours
sitting in traffic last
year. In the first part of 2013, congestion has already increased 6 percent.
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