Harvard study looks at traffic and health

MOUNT PLEASANT -- When Gloria Snipe was a girl, U.S. Highway 17 was a quiet country road that rambled past the small home where she was born.

Then came people and their cars, lots and lots of them. The road doubled in size and then grew some more. These days, it spans six lanes and sits less than 15 feet from the weathered front porch where she weaves sweetgrass baskets.

It's hard to hear over the din of traffic, and even harder at rush hour to pull out of her narrow driveway. But Snipe and her relatives can only guess at the unseen effects of the thousands of cars that pass daily.

"There is so much traffic and they keep coming back to take more and more of the land for the road to grow," said Snipe's niece, Pat Bostic, who lives next door. "It is a concern because with all the pollution from the cars."

They may have good reason to worry.

A new study out of Harvard University's Center for Risk Analysis estimates that pollution caused by traffic congestion in the nation's largest urban areas led to 2,200 premature deaths in the country last year, with a related public health cost of at least $18 billion.

Researchers expect those figures to grow as population swells in urban centers, leading to even more gridlock and early deaths if solutions aren't found.

The study forecasts that traffic numbers in the Charleston/North Charleston area will jump 32 percent in the first 30 years of this millennium. This, in turn, could lead to about two premature deaths each year and some $21 million in health care costs by 2030, the study estimates.

These numbers, of course, pale in comparison to traffic-choked cities like Los Angeles, New York City and Chicago, where the estimated body count extends into the hundreds, with billions of dollars worth of related health care costs.

But environmentalists and health advocates say the Holy City shouldn't dismiss the threats posed by increased congestion either.

The basic premise is this: More congestion leads to more idling cars, which leads to more fine particulate gunk ending up in our lungs.

Dr. J. Routt Reigart, professor of pediatrics at the Medical University of South Carolina, said the study focused on mortality but the effects of this pollution have very real consequences for the living as well. Fine particles and pollutants from exhaust can trigger bronchitis and asthma in the young and aggravate lung problems and the risk of heart attack among older folks, he said.

"Does Charleston specifically need to be terrorized by this? Not at this point, because we have relatively good air quality," he said. "But if you look at long-term planning, it certainly makes sense to be looking at alternate forms of transportation."

Dana Beach, executive director of Coastal Conservation League, said the report's projections put the Charleston area in the top 10 percent in the nation for anticipated traffic growth. "A third more miles traveled is a huge number," he said.

Beach said the study doesn't even take into effect other factors, such an anticipated increase in truck traffic when the wider Panama Canal opens in 2014, bringing more and larger cargo ships to the area. He said the study's value is that it provides "a rough view of the future, assuming we don't make a major investment in transportation."

Some folks say the study supports a push for spending $489 million to complete Interstate 526, while Beach and others would rather see that investment go to upgrading the bottle-necked Interstate 26 corridor. Where they seem to agree is in the need for exploring light rail and other alternate forms of transportation.

South Carolinians, after all, are heavily dependent on cars to get around. A recent study by the Natural Resources Defense Council ranked South Carolina among the most gas-dependent states in the nation, second only to Mississippi. The average Palmetto State driver spent 6.3 percent of his income, or $2,093, fueling up last year, the report noted.

Ron Mitchum, executive director of the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester Council of Governments, said officials are working on number of things to ease congestion, from studying the synchronization of traffic lights to exploring the feasibility of a commuter rail system for the region.

Interstate 26, the region's main traffic corridor, is already undergoing expansion work and future options for widening that roadway will be limited and expensive, Mitchum said. "Recognizing this as we look out into the future, we have to look at other modes to move people more efficiently."

Hernan Pena, the city of Charleston's director of traffic and transportation, said one component is encouraging people to make greater use of buses, bicycles and walking to get to destinations. To this end, the city is working to create a bike and pedestrian lane across the Ashley River bridge, among other things, he said.

Of course, this will require a change in culture and mind-set in addition to financing. Yet another study -- this one by Transportation for America -- recently ranked South Carolina as the second most dangerous state in the nation for pedestrians, with nearly 1,000 walkers killed between 2000 and 2009.

Reach Glenn Smith at 937-5556.