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There is now a CONTENT FREEZE for Mercury while we switch to a new platform. It began on Friday, March 10 at 6pm and will end on Wednesday, March 15 at noon. No new content can be created during this time, but all material in the system as of the beginning of the freeze will be migrated to the new platform, including users and groups. Functionally the new site is identical to the old one. webteam@gatech.edu
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February HPRG: Health, Environment, and Freight Transport
Laetitia Dablanc is a senior researcher at the French institute of science and technology for transport, development and networks (IFSTTAR, ex INRETS). Her areas of research are freight transport, freight and environment, sustainable transport, urban logistics, rail freight, freight transport policies. She is a visiting scholar at the Georgia Institute of Technology during academic year 2010-2011, working at the Center for Quality Growth and Regional Development with Dr. Catherine Ross, researching 'logistics sprawl' issues and freight transport planning in megaregions.
Ms. Dablanc will present research on the environmental and health issues related to freight transportation in urban areas. Cities need freight but they tend to ignore this specific category of urban transport. Freight transportation, despite providing jobs and services to the urban economy, has been neglected by mobility surveys, transport models, transport strategies and regional master planning. In the meanwhile, freight operators have carried on their businesses, which is to provide the goods required by shops, companies and households at the right place and time. In most cases, they succeed, but not in the best environmental or social manner. In cities, one fourth of CO2, one third of NOx and half of particulates that come from transport are generated by trucks and vans. Many non-attainment situations for air quality, in Europe and in the U.S., are related to diesel trucks, because of the old age of commercial vehicles in cities, and the growing importance of commercial fleets in urban areas. Data and examples will be presented, mostly from European cities, and policy issues will be discussed.
Michael Kray, an analyst at the Atlanta Regional Commission, will present an analysis of the truck route network in terms of negative impact on environmental justice populations. He will highlight the planning difficulties that arise when trying to mitigate the health impact of the transportation network, especially in the Atlanta area.
