An investigation of the effectiveness of roadside air quality monitoring networks: A field study at an emerging city in Gyeonggi province
This study evaluated the effectiveness of a roadside air quality monitoring network in one of Gyeonggi Province’s emerging cities, focusing on traffic volume and air pollutants. It showed that while the network reflected high correlations of NO2 and CO with vehicular emissions, PM10 and PM2.5 were more influenced by citywide air quality. The atmospheric concentration of O3 was linked to air temperature and solar radiation, confirming the role of meteorological and photochemical factors. Temporal analysis indicated that traffic-related pollutants partly reflected traffic flow but could not be fully explained by volume alone. Stepwise statistical methods, including Pearson correlation, multiple linear regression, and generalized additive models, revealed nonlinear behaviors beyond conventional models. Comparisons between roadside and urban background stations such as AQMS showed high correlations of PM10 and PM2.5 across networks, while NO2 and CO were more localized to roadside emissions. It is necessary to effectively achieve the purpose of roadside monitoring networks by conducting a more comprehensive and in-depth investigation into their effectiveness in various metropolitan cities where they are being installed.