Concentrating Housing Near Freeways Is Bad, Even In Portland

"City, regional and state land-use policies call for new development to be concentrated in existing urban centers and along major transportation corridors. But as Portland State University professor Linda George sees it, motor vehicle-related pollution is significantly worse along such corridors, potentially threatening the health of everyone who lives near them."

"The closer you are to the source of pollution, the more you are exposed to it,' said George, an associate professor at PSU’s Environmental Science and Research Program."

"'We should be asking whether land-use policies should be encouraging people to move closer to where we know pollution is the worst,' she said."