Connecting the Dots Between Air Pollution and Congestion

"The most recent figures available from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District — a map based on 2010 data — show that air pollution runs along the city’s highways, and Interstate 80 cuts straight through SoMa, South Park, South Beach and the city’s new high-rise neighborhood, Rincon Hill," reports Rachel Swan.

Swan cites neighborhood representatives who tie the worsening air pollution to worsening congestion as the city grows in population and employment. Multiple data sources also show that congestion is worsening in the city.

With more projects on the way in these neighborhoods, like the Warriors’ Chase Arena in Mission Bay and the California Pacific Medical Center on Van Ness Avenue, air pollution, connected to congestion, has obviously become another talking point for development opponents.

San Francisco is taking some steps to mitigate the existing air pollution. Swan summarizes:

In 2008, San Francisco enacted a law requiring ventilation systems and filters in new residential buildings, child care centers and private schools, which affected a lot of the projects being built South of Market. And in 2015, it mandated that contractors use cleaner equipment in the city’s most polluted areas, which also include parts of the Bayview, isolated areas around Fisherman’s Wharf and along Highway 101 through Potrero Hill and Visitacion Valley.

Public health officials are also currently working on a draft Community Risk Reduction Plan.