Breathe easier: Red Hill air better than expected
John Best
The Bay observer
The air quality around the Red Hill Parkway
is better than any of the numerous forecasts
made before the road was built had
indicated. A before-and-after air quality
report commissioned by the city on the Red
Hill Valley is a pleasant surprise to city air
monitoring officials. The report indicates
that contrary to even the city’s own expectations
there have been significant decreases
in pollution in the valley from readings
taken before construction of the parkway.
As part of the city’s agreement with the
Ministry of the Environment, Hamilton
was required to commission independent
air quality monitoring at the expressway
site before and after construction. The
MOE calibrated the air testing equipment
to ensure accuracy of results. The samplings,
taken 12 years apart were conducted
at the King Street interchange which was
determined to be where pollution would be
greatest. Rather than an increase in emissions,
the surprising result was a significant
improvement in air quality. Carbon Monoxide
was down 67%, Oxides of Nitrogen reduced
by 51%, and Benzo Pyrene was down
by 65%. Of particular interest was the drop
in Particulate Matter, 11% and a 43% drop
in Total Suspended Particulate—as these
pollutants have been cited by air quality experts
as a key source of respiratory ailments
and premature death.
Jim Rockwood, the Environmental Coordinator
for the Red Hill project admits the
results were unexpected. “When you build
a piece of infrastructure of this size, you
would expect some increase in emissions,”
he said. In 1998 and again in 2003 Hamilton
released air quality forecasts for the
Red Hill Valley that conceded there would
be moderate increases in various pollutants
once the expressway was built, although
this was expected to be offset by generally
better air quality across the region due to
improved traffic flows. Instead, according to
the Red Hill Report coupled with Clean Air
Hamilton’s 2009 air quality report, covering
the entire regional airshed; there has been
a dramatic increase in air quality across the
city as well as in the Red Hill Valley.
Why? First of all nobody expected that
pollution would decrease across North
America to the extent that it has over the
past 15 years. Both automobiles and industry
have reduced emissions significantly.
The Red Hill reports an improvement in
overall air pollution by 20 to 40 percent
since 1998.
The studies underline the pitfalls of
trying to predict environmental impacts.
The 1998 study by the city suggested that
particulates would exceed provincial
guidelines 90 percent of the time near Glencastle
Park, in the Greenhill area adjacent
to the expressway and therefore the park
should be moved. The park is still there.
Expressway opponent Don McLean wrote
in the Spectator in 1995 that Hamilton
would become the “armpit of the province,
“if the Red Hill were built. Two years
later another expressway opponent, Joe
Minor wrote, “ politicians who claim the
expressway will improve air quality aren't
just ignorant, they're negligent.” Medical
researcher David Pengelly, in a 2003 article
co-authored with expressway opponent
Tom Muir, among other things predicted
Nitrogen Oxide concentrations could be
5 to 10 times what the city projected and
that “additional people are going to sicken
and die prematurely, including asthmatic
children.” Instead concentrations of NOX
dropped 51% since 1998. The complete city
of Hamilton report can be found by visiting
the city website www.hamiilton.ca and by
clicking the tab for the Red Hill Valley project.
Clean Air Hamilton’s annual report can
be accessed at www.cleanair.hamilton.ca