A lesson in good air quality

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Good teachers and a rigorous curriculum aren’t the only things parents should consider when choosing a school for their kids. How close the school is to a major highway should also be taken into account.

A recent study found the air around schools near busy highways contains significant levels of environmental pollutants, which could pose health problems for students — even when they’re indoors. The study, published in the September issue of the Journal of Environmental Planning and Management, reviewed nine cities across the country, including Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Los Angeles and San Antonio. Data were collected through the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education from 8,800 schools serving 6 million students.

‘We found a striking number of schools — about a third — have been built within 400 meters [about a quarter of a mile] of a major highway,’ says senior author Sergey Grinshpun, professor of environmental health and director of the Center for Health-Related Aerosol Studies at the University of Cincinnati. About 12% were within 100 meters, or 328 feet.

Other studies, he adds, have suggested a possible fallout from such proximity: children living within 100 meters of highways have higher incidence of wheezing, potentially a precursor to more serious illnesses such as asthma. Those within the 400-meter range have lung development issues. Not all states have laws about schools being a specific distance from freeways, but California does. The state passed legislation in 2003 mandating that if a proposed school site is within 500 feet (152 meters, about a tenth of a mile) of a busy freeway or traffic corridor that averages more than 100,000 vehicles per day in urban areas, the district has to establish whether or not the air quality poses a significant health risk to students.

Grinshpun isn’t calling for the abandonment of existing schools near highways, but he does suggest ideas that schools and communities should consider: building new schools farther away from major thoroughfares, outfitting schools with more efficient air filtration systems that can filter out harmful air particles, and limiting outdoor activity time to when traffic flow is lowest.

‘We hope to attract public attention to this striking data, given how big a role highways play in the U.S. economy,’ says Grinshpun, ‘and to call for a synergy of two approaches: a recognition of the balance between economic issues and health considerations. If the policy makers could take a look and develop something with a good balance between the two, that’s something we would be happy to see.’

-- Jeannine Stein