Photo by: Shutterstock
The TRECH Project has moved to Boston University. Stay up to date with the latest research here.
Modernizing transportation systems in the U.S. offers important opportunities to slow climate change, improve health, and alleviate inequities. Through our Transportation, Equity, Climate, and Health (TRECH) Project, we analyzed how different policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions can improve people’s lives.
Transportation is the largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S., contributing 30% of total greenhouse gas emissions. Tailpipe emissions are also a large source of traditional pollution that can degrade air quality and harm health, while transportation development influences noise pollution, land-use patterns, and access to services.
Cars, trucks, and buses emit tons of conventional air pollutants each year contributing to asthma, heart disease, pre-term births, and premature death among other health impacts.
The largest air quality impacts occur in communities that are underserved and overburdened with pollution, living near highways and transportation depots, often due to a long history of racist policies that have resulted in persistent elevated pollution exposure for people of color.
Improving transportation systems to help curb climate change can also provide health benefits and alleviate inequities by improving air quality and access to public transportation, enhancing safe spaces for biking and walking, and encouraging alternatives to traveling in cars.
The TRECH Project
Our researchers, together with Boston University, University of North Carolina, and Columbia University, studied how infrastructure investments and transportation policies aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic can improve health and equity through better air quality and increases in physical activity. Specifically, the TRECH Project analyzed:
- Health consequences. How changes in air quality and active mobility affect health under various transportation scenarios.
- Equity concerns. How county-level changes in air pollution and health are distributed geographically and by race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
- Downwind impacts. How changes in emissions in one state affect the air quality in counties downwind.
In 2022, the TRECH Project is worked with community partners to conduct modeling of equitable transportation investments. This research aimed to accelerate the transformation to cleaner, healthier, and more just transportation systems in communities that are overburdened by pollution in Boston and throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.
Initial research:
Total and interstate deaths from transportation-related air pollution from five vehicle types in 12 states and Washington, D.C.
Health benefits of improved access to biking, walking, and public transit compared to the infrastructure costs of the Transportation Climate Initiative
Health benefits of Transportation Climate Initiative policy scenarios
TRECH Project Team
- Sarav Arunachalam, PhD, Institute for the Environment, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
- Calvin Arter, PhD candidate, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Alique Berberian, MPH, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
- Laura Buckley, PhD student, Boston University School of Public Health
- Jonathan Buonocore, ScD, Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
- Christos Efstathiou, PhD, Institute for the Environment, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
- Patrick Kinney, ScD, Boston University School of Public Health
- Jon Levy, ScD, Boston University School of Public Health
- Frederica Perera, DrPH, PhD, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
- Katy Coomes, MS, Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health
- Matthew Raifman, PhD student, Boston University School of Public Health
Acknowledgments
The TRECH Project was made possible in part by a grant from the Barr Foundation to the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Transportation emissions generate air pollution that has a large death toll
Study identifies leading source of health damages from vehicle pollution in 12 states and Washington, D.C.
Health-related savings from increased walking and bicycling far exceed estimated transportation infrastructure costs
Research in the Journal of Urban Health shows that transportation infrastructure investments could save hundreds of lives and billions of dollars.
TRECH Project Research Update on Health Benefits of TCI Policy Scenarios
Exploring how different transportation policies could influence health through better air quality and increases in physical activity.
Tailpipe emissions led to 620 Mass. deaths in 1 year, study finds
New study reveals serious health impacts from out-of-state vehicle pollution and need for regional emissions policy.
Scientists show how electric big rigs and buses will save thousands of lives
In different geographic regions, different types of vehicles (e.g., trucks, buses, SUVs) cause the most deaths from pollution.
Vehicle pollution caused an estimated 2,000 New Yorkers’ deaths in one year
Over half of deaths caused by vehicle pollution in New York are from harmful emissions in other states, our new study shows.
Harvard Study: Car Pollution in NYC Claims 1,400 Lives, Billions in Costs
Researchers say that the New York City metro area suffers roughly 1,400 premature deaths every year, and loses billions in health costs, because of vehicle pollution.
Car pollution killed hundreds in Mass. and thousands across 12 states, researchers say
Ozone and fine particulate matter from vehicle emissions claimed approximately 7,100 lives in 12 states and Washington, D.C., in 2016, including about 620 in Massachusetts, a new study found.
Vehicle Pollution Leads to Thousands of Early Deaths and Costs Billions in Northeast and Mid-Atlantic, Study Says
Pollution from vehicle emissions caused thousands of deaths and led to billions of dollars in health care costs in a single year in the Northeast and mid-Atlantic, even affecting those who don't live near the source, according to a new study.
An Initiative to Decarbonise the Transportation Sector in Northeast U.S. Picks Up Speed
Preliminary data from our TRECH project finds that a regional collaboration to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the transportation sector could protect public health.
If You Build It, They Will Bike: Pop-Up Lanes Increased Cycling During Pandemic
Our TRECH study is included in a growing body of evidence shows that investments in cycling infrastructure can encourage bike commuting, which helps cut greenhouse gas emissions.
In the Northeast, Improved Walking and Bicycling Infrastructure Could Save Hundreds of Lives, Billions of Dollars
BU and Harvard study examines health and economic impact of proposed emissions caps coupled with investments in pedestrian and bike-friendly transportation ways.
Transportation infrastructure investments could save hundreds of lives, billions of dollars
Health-related savings from increased walking and bicycling far exceed the estimated infrastructure costs.