The Air Quality Study by Georgia Tech indicates the greatest health risks come from congested roads. The tendency is to want to have a big company to blame for population. It’s uncomfortable to see ourselves and our cars as the problem. If traffic congestion is a major health risk, then we need to have more expressways that move traffic quickly with traffic stops and a regional mass transit system.
This is not the time to cutback on ECAT, especially when gasoline costs continue to rise. We should look at expanding ECAT and making it more accessible.
This also shows the 2001-02 plan to extend I-110 to Nine Mile Road through neighborhoods may have posed a health-risk for those people. The proposed plan was cheaper than building overhead (like I-110 South) but it would have brought congestion near residences.
The PNJ points out that the maximum risk is on Blue Angel Parkway near U.S. 98 in Escambia County. The county and the regional transportation study needs to analyze where this traffic is coming from and why it’s so congested.