Assessment of trucking bans in urban areas as a strategy to reduce air pollution

Abstract Introduction With the aim to reduce/mitigate the externalities due to freight transportation, sometimes the circulation of trucks is banned in urban areas. Some of these restrictions and bans are applied without proper technical support, justifying human health affectation. Thus, it is necessary to analyse how convenient are these restrictions and how efficient they really are. Methods To assess the effectivity of restrictions policies, the authors used regression analyses to estimate truck emissions with and without restriction of trucks. The models developed by the authors allow to estimate truck emissions based on distance (Vehicles Milles Traveled) by the trucks. Moreover, the models allow to determinate changes in the amount of pollutant emissions by changes in the Vehicles Milles Traveled due to restrictions or policies in urban areas. Results To test the proposed model, numerical experiments were conducted in Medellin, Colombia, where there is a history of trucking bans due to emissions. The results for the Medellin Metropolitan Area show that the truck circulation restriction does not reduce the amount of emissions that affect human health. Instead, the emissions were more concentrated in the hours without restriction, having a counterintuitive effect, that could affect more human health. Conclusions In terms of environment, a political strategy that at first hand appears to be a good decision, could not be one in the long term. For this reason, it is necessary to have technical support and prevent undesired effects to the city. In the Medellin Metropolitan Area with the truck ban policy, not significant change was found in the amount of pollutant (PM2.5). Nevertheless, with the restriction, the emissions are concentrated, and this is an undesired effect, especially for human health.