Documentation / Online Handbook
| Traffic |   |
| Moscow |
Description of the Problem
The development of the service sector and growth of business activities in Moscow have brought a sharp growth in the need for transport. This fact has resulted in the big increase of private cars, which occupies the leading position in pollution of the atmospheric air in the city.
From 1980 to 1997, the automobile transport share in the amount of total exhausts in the atmosphere had increased from 73 % to 87 %. The automobile transport's share in the total exhaust of carbon monoxide has reached 96 %, of hydrocarbons - 98 %.
The main reason for such growth of harmful exhausts of the transport origin was the sharp increase in the number of automobiles in the town. From 1980 to 1997, the Moscow automobiles park tripled and today it occupies about 1,600,000 automobiles. At the same time, the street length has not changed and constitutes 4,350 km (4.07 km of road per 1 km² of the town territory). The existing transport infrastructure is not sufficient for such a number of automobiles. The average speed in the main streets during the peak hours has fallen to 10-12 km/hr.
Among other reasons, the most significant are;
Automobile transport is the main source of noise in Moscow. More than 2 million people live in the zone of its effect, including: 400,000 people in the railway transport zone, 300,000 people in the aviation zone, 270,000 people in the tram zone.
As for pollution of the water basin, the main negative factor is connected with the river vessels. Annually, the rivers, including the Moscow River, get about 80,000 tons of harmful impurities from the river vessels and ports.
Automobile transport plays one of the most significant roles in the above process. Annually, auto transport discharges in the water basin of Moscow are more than 600 tons of suspended compositions and about 125 tons of petroleum products.
Among the types of transport considered, the most negative effect on soils is made by the automobile transport. Polluting components come from precipitation combined with harmful discharges from the automobiles and constitute about 1.0 kg/m³ of the territory per year. Other sources of pollution are represented by the washing out of harmful impurities from the roads and rigid coverings of the automobile stops and filling stations.
Some zones have revealed abnormal concentrations of the benzapyren and heavy metals compounds along the main roads of the town.
Data Sources
Sources of information concerning the number of transportation vehicles and intensity of transportation:
The main sources of information concerning the atmospheric air quality:
Methods
There is no special system of supervision of pollution of atmosphere caused by the transportation vehicles. But some posts of the system of supervision MosTsGMS are located near the main roads, which allows one to note the instrument readings of the concentration of nitrogen oxide, carbon oxide, and hydrocarbons, the main polluting components in the air. But it is impossible to get a general condition of pollution of the air from the transportation vehicles because there are only three posts.
Methods of simulation of the polluting components’ dissipation is used for these purposes. This system is approved by the State Committee of Environment of the Russian Federation.
The method of investigation depends on the correspondent purpose of the investigation. In the case that the investigation is directed at determining the potential possible maximum concentrations of the polluting components under unfavourable meteorological conditions, the maximum occasional limiting concentration will be taken as the sanitary and hygienic criteria of the atmosphere quality. This method was developed by the specialists of the main geophysical observatory named by Voyeykov A.I.
In the case of the necessity to estimate the scale and intensity of permanent effect of the automobiles on the quality of atmosphere during a long period of time (i.e. one year), the Gausse models are to be used in calculation of the average annual concentration of pollutions in the over-the-ground atmosphere, for example: "CALINE." In such a case, the average daily permitted concentration will be considered to be the sanitary criteria of the atmosphere quality.
Estimation of noise from transport vehicles can be made in two ways: first, you can use special equipment in accordance with methods used in the Russian Federation stipulating noise level registration along the transport roads. In the second case, you can calculate the noise levels depending on the transportation vehicles’ flow conditions and characteristics of the adjoining territories.
Volumes of pollutions coming from the automobiles and river vessels to the surface flow and to the town bodies of water can be calculated in accordance with the normative documents accepted in this field.
The level of soil pollution can be determined on the basis of the ground samples geochemical analysis taken along the main roads.
Results
On the basis of the above calculations, a series of maps of the atmospheric air pollution by the automobiles’ discharges for each separate polluting component was made.
The noise map of Moscow shows the noise characteristics along the main roads, railways, and the zone of acoustic discomfort near the airports. This map was the result of works directed toward determining the noise condition in the territory of the town.
| Results | Analysis and evaluation methods | Data | ||||||
| inventory maps / cadastral register | Complex summarising / interpolation maps | reference area / resolution / scale | analogical / digital result | calculation steps and spatial depiction | main parameter | Other necessary data | Temporal distribution of data collection | survey unit scale |
| Air pollution by traffic through NO (CO, CxHx) | all Moscow, grids and road system 1:100000 |
3 Digital maps EIS Moscow | Analysis of the average traffic volume in the primarily road network. Assessment for all additional streets and summarizing results in 2x2 km grid for the total street network; further parameters for the Emission Simulation. Model are taken into account to estimate the NO2 emissions from vehicle exhausts and evaporation. | NOx (account as NO2), CO, CxHx |
Additional parameters necessary for the Emission Cadaster: e.g. - emission factors, - seasonal, weekly intensity of traffic, combination of the vehicle fleet (passenger cars, heavy duty lorries, busses). | The data are based on traffic counts in 1995-1996, additional research for transport system. | 3,300 segments of the primary road network, 280 grids of 2x2 km for the total road network. |
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