Poor Air Quality Along the Wasatch Front During Inversions: Role of Road Transportation and Possible Solutions

Inversions occur due to a complex system of energy exchange, geography, and weather patterns. Every winter in the Wasatch Front, Utah, air inversion traps air pollution from different sources causing nearly 2,000 premature deaths each year. The population in this region continues to grow and is predicted to double in the next thirty years. With a fast-growing population being forced to live in the relatively small space that the Wasatch Front region offers, managing the effects of the inversion becomes an important issue to be solved. One of the main sources of this pollution is emissions from vehicles. As the population grows, emissions being trapped by the inversion grow proportionally. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the impact of winter inversion, the role of road transportation, and possible solutions to this problem. Several solutions were proposed, including increasing electric vehicle infrastructure, raising public awareness of air pollution and health threats, encouraging public transportation use, expanding telework programs, and promoting walking and cycling.