Costs of Automobile Air Emissions in U.S. Metropolitan Areas

摘要

Automobile air emissions are a well recognized problem and have been subject to considerableregulation. An increasing concern for greenhouse gas emissions draws additional considerationsto the externalities of personal vehicle travel. In this paper, we estimate automobile air emissioncosts for eighty-six U.S. metropolitan areas based on county-specific external air emissionmorbidity, mortality, and environmental costs. Total air emission costs in the urban areas areestimated to be $145 million/day, with Los Angeles and New York (each $23 million/day)having the highest totals. These external costs average $0.64/day/person and $0.03/vehicle miletraveled. Total air emission cost solely due to traffic congestion for the same eight-six U.S.metropolitan areas was also estimated to be $24 million/day. We compare our estimates withothers found in the literature and find them to be generally consistent. These external automobileair emission costs are important for social benefit and cost assessment of transportation measuresto reduce vehicle use. However, this study does not include any abatement costs associated withautomobile emission controls or government investments to reduce emissions such as trafficsignal setting.