Vehicular Growth and Air Quality at Major Traffic Intersection Points in Kolkata City:An Efficient Intervention Strategies

Abstract

Vehicular air pollution is a growing problem in Kolkata due to high growth of motorized vehicles. The increased travel demand has also resulted in rapid growth in the number of motor vehicles in the arterial roads of Kolkata City. The travel demand has increased likewise the number of registered vehicles is on rise and corresponds to some 52 percent growth since the last decade with less than 7 percent of effective road space leading to high automobile density, disproportionately low percentage of road network, congestion, accidents and effect on air quality. To estimate the vehicular pollution at ten major different traffic intersection points based on fume study in Kolkata, a primary survey was conducted and it has been found that the highest fume emitting vehicles dominate in Shyambazar Five Point Crossing in North Kolkata followed by Ballygunge Phanri in South and Esplanade and B.B.D Bag in Central Kolkata. According to Air Pollution Index (API) of US-EPA all the major traffic intersection points reflects high level of pollutants with few exceptions. It has been noted during primary survey that concentration of Suspended Particulate Matter and Respirable Suspended Particulate Matter are highest in comparison to other automobile pollutants in the traffic intersection points of Kolkata city.