Environmental impact modelling of a highway: a case study

Traffic pollution has serious implications on the atmosphere and human health. The present paper refers to the impact of traffic on the Italian A22 highway that crosses the region Trentino - Alto Adige. Based on information provided by ALPNAP (Air Pollution, Traffic Noise and Related Health Effects in the Alpine Space project) and iMonitraf (Monitoring of Road Traffic related Effects in Alpine Space and Common Measures), the variation of the emissions of NOx and PM10 was derived for the period 2005-2009 along the Bolzano North - Bolzano South stretch. By means of the COPERT IV model, emission simulations were performed and the results on the emission factors for the most polluting vehicles (heavy duty vehicles) were compared with the emission factors adopted by iMonitraf. The results show that the analysis of the main pollutants CO, CO2, PM10 and NOx is more rigorous and accurate when performing simulations with COPERT.