2022

Author(s): Fattah MA, Esraz-Ul-Zannat M, Morshed SR, Roni AT

Introduction: Human exposure is the most visible effect of different pollutants, which come at a hidden cost to society due to their impacts on human health and the environment. Objective: The purpose of this research is to gain a better knowledge of the environmental effects of motorized vehicles' gas emissions and the resulting economic losses in a developing country. Methods: In this paper, the authors estimated vehicular emissions, emission costs, climate change costs (CCCs), and noise pollution costs (NPCs) for 84 road segments (18 important intersections) in Dhaka City in 2009 and 2017. The top-down method was used to determine the vehicular emissions in each intersection using average daily traffic data and previously defined emission factors. Climatic change costs were evaluated using the damage cost approach, and noise pollution costs were estimated using the bottom-up noise exposure model.Results: Analysis showed that the enormous and uncontrolled surge in personal vehicles resulted in significant spikes in emissions as well as economic losses. Result shows the massive increase of all types of pollutants due to the rise of vehicular populations. From 2009 to 2017, the exhaust emission costs increased by 77.89%, (from 20.71 x 10(6) to 36.84 x 10(6) Tk/day), CCCs by 63.96% (from 18.73 x 10(6) to 30.71 x 10(6) Tk/day), NPCs by 101.61% (from 11.20 x 10(6) to 22.58 x 10(6) Tk/day). The study illustrated the spatial GHG emissions, CCCs, and NPCs statistics of all the traffic nodes and signified the regulation of vehicular activities in a sustainable manner. Conclusion: Proper adaptation of the recommended policies and strategies can improve the scenario and potentially lessen the other negative consequences.

DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2022.101377