Motorways might be covered with tunnels to protect close-by residents from vehicle emissions under a government plan. Highways England stated it was checking out the possibility of building cantilever barriers or canopies that would absorb harmful fumes from passing traffic.
In its latest air high quality strategy, the company stated it was “investigating if we can reduce the costs to build a canopy, which is a tunnel-like structure designed to prevent vehicle emissions reaching our neighbours, to make this a viable solution”. It is working with the Dutch roads Authority to determine the benefits of a contamination tunnel being tested in the Netherlands.
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The company has likewise trialled a six-metre high wooden barrier on a 100m stretch of the M62 as well as a three-metre fence coated in a mineral polymer material which takes in nitrogen dioxide created by diesel engines, effectively cleaning the air.
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But the RAC stated emissions tunnels risked making air high quality worse for drivers.
Nick Lyes, roads policy spokesperson at RAC, said: “We concern whether building tunnel-like canopies, even if they are made of a material that can partially clean the air, is the right method to offer with the problem. All this will do is concentrate potentially toxic air over the road which will have an effect on those inside their vehicles who breathe in the trapped pollution.
“The solution should be about reducing levels of contamination by accelerating the shift to ultra-low as well as zero discharge vehicles as well as motivating much better web traffic flow with variable speed limits – something Highways England has started doing on wise motorways.”
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A Highways England spokesperson said: “The finest solution to accommodating the additional web traffic on our roads, without negatively impacting on air quality, is cleaner low-emission vehicles. In the meantime we are investing £100 million to test new concepts including less-polluting fuels as well as road barriers which can take in harmful emissions.”
Do you believe ‘pollution tunnels’ would be an efficient method to protect people from harmful emissions? let us understand in the comments