Cardiff to monitor air quality on ‘car-free’ day
The impact of road closures on major routes in and out of Cardiff city centre will be monitored to assess improvements in air quality, Cardiff city council has said.
Road closures are being enforced on Sunday 13 May for a public cycle event — HSBC Let’s Ride Cardiff, organised by British Cycling — with the cycle route starting at King Edward VII Avenue and following a course past landmarks including Cardiff Castle and the city’s Central Station.
Roads in Cardiff city centre will be closed to vehicle traffic on 13 May for a public cycling even, when air quality data gathering will take place (Picture: Shutterstock)
According to the city council, as well as providing a variety of entertainment, the event will provide an opportunity to monitor any potential improvements to air quality in the city, along the routes where vehicles have been removed.
Air quality equipment provided by Air Monitors UK, will be used to measure pollutant levels on both Castle Street and Westgate Street which will be compared to the levels of pollutants recorded on a normal Sunday.
Air quality measures
Cardiff city council has recently set out a series of measures it is hoping to approve to encourage low emission transport within the city, as well as announcing that it will be conducting a feasibility study to determine if a Clean Air Zone is needed within the city to bring nitrogen dioxide levels in line with legal limits (see airqualitynews.com story).
This follows a legal direction from the Welsh Government stating that the council must identify options for delivering compliance with legal limits for nitrogen dioxide in the shortest possible time, by June 30.
Analysis of data from London on the day of the 2018 London Marathon by the behaviour change charity Global Action Plan has suggested that nitrogen dioxide levels in some parts of the capital had fallen ‘significantly’ due to the closure of roads to vehicle traffic (see airqualitynews.com story).
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