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Do air quality alerts reduce traffic? An analysis of traffic data from the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, Utah, USA

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  • Tribby, Calvin P.
  • Miller, Harvey J.
  • Song, Ying
  • Smith, Ken R.

Abstract

Air quality alert programs are a form of “soft” or persuasion-based policy that is common in metropolitan areas that do not meet federal air quality standards in the United States. These programs disseminate daily air quality conditions, with ordinal ratings describing the health implications and suggesting reductions in automobile use and other actions that contribute to the poor air quality. Evidence regarding the effectiveness of air quality alert programs on driving is less encouraging than other soft policies to discourage driving, with many studies reporting small or no reductions in traffic. This study examines evidence for the effectiveness of air quality alert systems in reducing traffic over a 10-year period in Salt Lake and Davis counties, Utah, USA, a metropolitan area that often does not meet US federal air quality standards for both ground-level ozone in the summer and PM 2.5 pollution in the winter. We find that while air quality alerts have some effectiveness for reducing traffic in the center city, these small reductions are exceeded by larger increases in traffic near the edge of the metropolitan area. These effects are stronger during the PM 2.5 alert season than during the ozone alert season. These increases can be explained as discretionary trips by individuals escaping poor air quality by driving to the mountains. A policy implication is that soft policies alone may not be effective at reducing driving behavior when the public health implication of the message conflicts with its public responsibility implication.

Suggested Citation

  • Tribby, Calvin P. & Miller, Harvey J. & Song, Ying & Smith, Ken R., 2013. "Do air quality alerts reduce traffic? An analysis of traffic data from the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, Utah, USA," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 173-185.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:trapol:v:30:y:2013:i:c:p:173-185
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tranpol.2013.09.012
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bamberg, Sebastian & Fujii, Satoshi & Friman, Margareta & Gärling, Tommy, 2011. "Behaviour theory and soft transport policy measures," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 228-235, January.
    2. Cutter, W. Bowman & Neidell, Matthew, 2009. "Voluntary information programs and environmental regulation: Evidence from 'Spare the Air'," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 58(3), pages 253-265, November.
    3. Ronald Cummings & Mary Beth Walker, 2000. "Measuring the effectiveness of voluntary emission reduction programmes," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(13), pages 1719-1726.
    4. Ying Song & Harvey Miller, 2012. "Exploring traffic flow databases using space-time plots and data cubes," Transportation, Springer, vol. 39(2), pages 215-234, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Hongchao Zhang & Jordan W. Smith, 2018. "Weather and Air Quality Drive the Winter Use of Utah’s Big and Little Cottonwood Canyons," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-12, October.
    2. Arthur J. Caplan, 2023. "Missing the Warning Signs? The Case of “Yellow Air Day” Advisories in Northern Utah," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 85(2), pages 479-522, June.
    3. Dangel, Alexander & Goeschl, Timo, 2022. "Air Quality Alerts and Don't Drive Appeals: Cautionary Evidence from Germany," Working Papers 0718, University of Heidelberg, Department of Economics.
    4. Doris A. Behrens & Olivia Koland & Ulrike Leopold-Wildburger, 2018. "Why local air pollution is more than daily peaks: modelling policies in a city in order to avoid premature deaths," Central European Journal of Operations Research, Springer;Slovak Society for Operations Research;Hungarian Operational Research Society;Czech Society for Operations Research;Österr. Gesellschaft für Operations Research (ÖGOR);Slovenian Society Informatika - Section for Operational Research;Croatian Operational Research Society, vol. 26(2), pages 265-286, June.
    5. Saberian, Soodeh & Heyes, Anthony & Rivers, Nicholas, 2017. "Alerts work! Air quality warnings and cycling," Resource and Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 165-185.
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    7. Mariano J. Rabassa & Mariana Conte Grand & Christian M. García-Witulski, 2021. "Heat warnings and avoidance behavior: evidence from a bike-sharing system," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 23(1), pages 1-28, January.

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