Road traffic is the largest source of most atmospheric pollutants and of urban noise. Many pollutants can cause serious health problems and the UK National Air Quality Strategy aims to reduce these problems by 2005. Local authorities are required to tackle hot spots through transport, traffic management and emission reduction plans in their Local Transport Plans. There is an urgent need for improved methods for monitoring, predicting and managing air quality problems and understanding their health implications. The LANTERN National Integrated Research Facility will enable research to be conducted into all aspects of the process from transport policy and traffic management through to the generation and dispersion of pollutants and their impact on peoples health. Moreover, it will allow those working on each element of the research programme to interact fully, benefiting from each others\rquote results and data, and conducting truly collaborative multi-disciplinary research. LANTERN Research Areas include:
Enhanced microscopic traffic modelling;
Improved emissions modelling;
Traffic characteristics and instrumented vehicle monitoring;
Emissions measurement;
Emissions sensor testing and development;
Pollutant measurement;
Meteorological conditions monitoring;
Exposure monitoring and modelling;
Health effects measurement.
Clearly, a wealth of static and dynamic, spatial and temporal data will be produced. All this information will be stored centrally in a sophisticated and comprehensive database. The research will be conducted by seven nationally and internationally leading departments at the University of Leeds. The LANTERN research programme needed the refurbishment of existing laboratory facilities and considerable investment in new technologies. This infrastructure is being provided by the EPSRC JIF award of up to £4.2 million. The equipment includes:
Instrumented Vehicle PLUS enhanced sensor on 2 others;
Traffic Monitoring systems (CCTV, temporary detectors etc);
Emissions engine test bed and monitoring systems;
Laboratory Emissions Sensor development equipment;
Portable Air Quality monitoring systems;
Noise monitoring systems;
Facilities to monitor health effects;
Computers with supporting software;
GIS
database;
Specialised Air Pollution Dispersion Modelling Software.
Approximately half of the JIF award is devoted specifically to invest in the Instrumented City Facility (iC). The iC is unique being the only facility where traffic data has been captured and archived for a decade, and since 1997 simultaneously with roadside and background pollutant concentrations and meteorological data. The iC has provided data for over 150 research projects carried out across 15 Universities.
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