Environmental noise and air pollution monitoring in the athens ring road ('attiki odos') an important parameter for a sustainable urban development

Abstract

Attica Tollway (Attiki Odos), a modern motorway extending along 65 km, constitutes the ring road of the greater metropolitan area of Athens and the main road network of the Attica Prefecture with over 4.5 million inhabitants. Attiki Odos from the first year of its operation in early 2001, in close collaboration with the University of Thessaly-Faculty of Civil Engineering (Laboratory of Transportation Environmental Acoustics), ensures a full environmental noise and air pollutants monitoring program based on eight fixed stations resulted in the implementation of an extensive Environmental Action Plan in order to ensure the system's sustainability. This article presents the main technical and operation characteristics of this extensive monitoring as well as the results and conclusions of the last 18-month period. A full assessment of the relevant environmental impact both on the acoustic and atmospheric environment is analyzed in this article along with comparative analysis for all monitoring locations including traffic data. This monitoring program consists one of the main parameters for an urban sustainable development of road transport in Athens Mega Region. . © 2015 WIT Press.