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UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

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Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#91

Post by klyrs »

pkulak wrote: post #35
KallDrexx wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm curious how different living next to a highway is to living in a dense urban city though (like NYC) and if it's different why? In either case you have a lot of car traffic (probably closer to your place of residence than people that live close to a highway) Not to mention if you live in a dense urban city then you will spend more time walking directly next to traffic.

Whatever the effect, it's at least getting better. As someone who rides a bike to work every day on urban roads that are usually congested, the recent rise of hybrids, and even just cars with auto start-stop systems, has been a blessing. It used to be that driving next to a line of stopped cars was a nightmare, but now at least half of them have their engines off, if they have an engine at all. Moving an automobile a…

> Moving an automobile a couple miles in a dense urban environment at very slow speeds shouldn't require much energy, at least from a pure physics standpoint.

If the terrain is flat, I agree. In hilly cities, not so much.

Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#92

Post by undo »

If there's a confirmed link between neurological disorders and air quality and traffic, wouldn't this show up in major metropolitan cities as well? Someone who lives near a highway is probably exposed to the same if not more automobile pollutants as someone in a city? I guess I'm trying to make the point that if the conclusion that they're drawing (proximity to cars = neurological disorders) it should show up in contexts outside of just "highways."

Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#94

Post by lukeschlather »

hhsuey wrote: post #69
chiefalchemist wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: Independent of income Living near a noisy highway is rarely prime real estate. How do we account forincome when there are so few in that subset? I also wouldn't discount the effect of endless stress. That is, the drone of noise. I recently moved from to a street that's fairly busy. Only in the middle of the night is it quite. I don't like it.

Also, the neighborhoods tend to be safer and more inviting than those right next to the major freeways. I was originally thinking air quality is the major reason, but Vancouver has really good air quality overall compared to where I live in Los Angeles. I would be interested in seeing this type of study be done across cities with different air quality.

Given that Vancouver has good air quality, the difference between living 150 meters from a highway vs. further might be more pronounced than if living in LA where the baseline pollution level is high enough that living next to a highway doesn't give meaningfully higher exposure.

Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#95

Post by abootstrapper »

novok wrote: post #75
chiefalchemist wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: Independent of income Living near a noisy highway is rarely prime real estate. How do we account forincome when there are so few in that subset? I also wouldn't discount the effect of endless stress. That is, the drone of noise. I recently moved from to a street that's fairly busy. Only in the middle of the night is it quite. I don't like it.

It really depends on your building too. I live near a highway and getting around by car is really convenient as a result. Highway noise is not very audible due to the construction of the windows and the walls. My air quality meter says the PM1.0, PM2.5 & PM10 counts are 3-1 ug/m^3 inside and I don't have air filters on.

What air quality meter do you use, if you don’t mind my asking?

Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#96

Post by jgalt212 »

I've always been fearful of the life outcomes endured by those raised in the Washington Bridge Apartments (they straddle the trans-Manhattan expressway, sort of like the western end of the Cross Bronx Expressway)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_Bridge_Ap...

https://htcexperiments.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/gissen_ex...

Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#97

Post by v77 »

jgalt212 wrote: post #96

I've always been fearful of the life outcomes endured by those raised in the Washington Bridge Apartments (they straddle the trans-Manhattan expressway, sort of like the western end of the Cross Bronx Expressway) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Washington_Bridge_Ap... https://htcexperiments.files.wordpress.com/2009/01/gissen_ex...

Drove into NYC last year and could not believe people were allowed to live in those buildings.

Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#98

Post by 0x38B »

graeme wrote: post #22
Brakenshire wrote: post #12

Anyone living near a busy road is swimming in particulate matter on the micrometre and nanometre scale, and particles on that scale bypass the normal defences, get into the blood stream and saturate the body. Small particles can even move down nerves, it’s really not surprising that long term exposure causes neurological problems.

If the pm 2.5 is low, are the nanoparticles also low? I live near a semi busy urban road, but there’s a wall of buildings + an alley between me and it. Pm 2.5 is very low at my place, and so is noise. Never thought about the nanoparticles pm 2.5 doesn’t measure, but am assuming it’s similar.

According to this article[1], nanoparticles drop off quickly compared to larger particles:

"However, the highest averages were recorded inside the cars and buses: the closer to the source of the pollution, the exhaust pipes spewing out the fumes, the higher the total number of nanoparticles. The difference between walking by the kerbside of the road, and by the building side, on the same pavement – just a few short steps – was an average of 82,000 particles versus 69,000. The same readings registered no change in PM2.5."

1: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20191113-the-toxic-killer... HN discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21552934

Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#99

Post by wincy »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #60
cs702 wrote: post #14

Direct link to study: https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12940-... The researchers found the link between living near highways and future neurological disorders to be independent of income, education, ethnicity, comorbidity, and coexisting medical conditions associated with future neurological disorders (traumatic brain injury, diabetes, hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, congestive hear…

Re: Independent of income Living near a noisy highway is rarely prime real estate. How do we account forincome when there are so few in that subset? I also wouldn't discount the effect of endless stress. That is, the drone of noise. I recently moved from to a street that's fairly busy. Only in the middle of the night is it quite. I don't like it.

I live in a house next to the highway. I can hear cars pass as I type this at 10pm. It’s irritating. Upper middle class homes, 250k-350k where median home price is $150k.

Re: UBC study links living near highways to risk of neurological disorders

#100

Post by wincy »

novok wrote: post #75
chiefalchemist wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Re: Independent of income Living near a noisy highway is rarely prime real estate. How do we account forincome when there are so few in that subset? I also wouldn't discount the effect of endless stress. That is, the drone of noise. I recently moved from to a street that's fairly busy. Only in the middle of the night is it quite. I don't like it.

It really depends on your building too. I live near a highway and getting around by car is really convenient as a result. Highway noise is not very audible due to the construction of the windows and the walls. My air quality meter says the PM1.0, PM2.5 & PM10 counts are 3-1 ug/m^3 inside and I don't have air filters on.

I live next to a highway and am concerned about air quality too, what meter do you use?
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