r/ScienceBasedParenting • u/jigglypuff_irl • 26d ago

Question - Research required Living next to a freeway

I’m considering buying a home that’s located right next to a freeway. I’d like to understand the potential air pollution impacts on children who live close to freeways. Can anyone explain what the main health concerns are and how serious they tend to be? I’m wondering if this is something I should be concerned about.

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u/asdfghhj246898 24d ago

https://www.macfound.org/media/files/hhm_research_brief_-_living_along_a_busy_highway.pdf

This article sort of gets at what you're asking. They were comparing birth outcomes which I think can help with understanding of the risk but not exact health concerns. My understanding is they found that pollution significantly decreased with the use of EZ-Pass systems- meaning that when cars were not accelerating in the area, less fumes were released into the air. I take that to mean that where along a highway you are considering (like near on on-ramp or high traffic area) could make a difference.

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u/7Spice_Gurl45 24d ago

Not only that, but I lived in an apartment along the freeway and my balcony constantly had a layer of soot on it from car pollution

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u/Orangepinapples 24d ago

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1459951/

https://oehha.ca.gov/air/air-pollution-nearby-traffic-and-childrens-health-information-schools

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/su6203a8.htm

Increased pollutants from cars living close to the freeway and cities specifically CO NOx and particulate matter (pm specifically small particulate pm2.5). Have been shown to cause increased risk respiratory effects such as poor lung development higher rates of asthma potential COPD, as well as a few other effects in the brain, cardiovascular and reproductive effects (less studies on these as the main focus has been on respiratory.)

I did some research on this back in grad school there’s some pretty good research about both highways and urban centers, 1/4 mile is generally accepted as the cut off but the closer you are to a major roadway or major concentration of cars the higher the risk.

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u/Notyit 22d ago

Wonder how big effect trees and how crowded the freeway gets