Hold Your Breath
Measuring air pollution at Starlight Park
Access to clean air is no doubt a problem across the Bronx. With the location of Starlight Park directly adjacent to a major roadway, the larger air quality issues of the borough apply directly to the park especially given its role as a location for active recreation in the local community.
In the past year, a major rework of the Sheridan Expressway into its current form of Sheridan Boulevard has consisted in lowering the speed of the roadway as well as adding pedestrian crossings with traffic signals. One of these signalized pedestrian crossings occurs next to the expansive playground and athletic field of the park. While this pedestrian crossing undoubtedly provides better access to the park from the neighborhood across the roadway, it raises questions about localized air quality. Large trucks using the roadway as an access point to the nearby Hunts Point Market, along with other traffic, frequently come to a complete stop at this signal. When given a green light, these vehicles release an immense amount of exhaust, often times visible as plumes of smoke, as they accelerate back to highway speeds.
Is there a measurable deterioration of air quality in the playground area when the adjacent traffic signal turns green?
Given the recent large investment made into the park, are there potential mitigation strategies to lessen the effect of exhaust from the highway on the areas in which children play? What could the City have done differently in the design and layout of the park?
I hope to answer these questions by placing air quality sensors at various locations within the park to see how far the pollution from acceleration at the traffic signal travels into the park.
