Determinants of Particulate Matter and Soot levels on the transport network of The Rotterdam-The Hague Metropolitan Region and evaluation of cyclists’ exposure among the different cycling infrastructure types.

In the past twenty years, considerable progress has been made to improve urban and sub-urban air quality in The Netherlands as well as in all the others European countries. However, the industrial development, the constitution of increasingly large urban areas, the use of heating sources, the increase in the emission of combustion products and many other factors still contribute considerably to the deterioration of the air quality. Recently, more and more studies about the impact of air pollution in The Netherlands focused on the category of cyclists, for both their great number due to the increasingly promotion of cycling as a mode of transportation in this country and for their direct contact with the air pollutants. It is indeed well known that, despite bicycling in urban areas has beneficial effects on people's health and well-being, it may be associated with health and safety risks due to potentially high levels of exposure to air pollution especially during the morning and evening commute. This study has three main aims. The first one is that of investigate, through the Linear Regression Analysis, which factors have the highest impact on the levels of concentrations of three air pollutants, PM2.5, PM10 and soot, in The Rotterdam – The Hague Metropolitan region. The second goal consists in having an assessment of how much the cyclists are exposed to these air pollutants in the three different main types of cycling infrastructures located in this area: road space shared with motor vehicles, separated lane for them (cycle lane marked on the road), and cycle lane (solitary bike path or lane separated by a physical barrier). Moreover, this section consists also in estimating how many people are impacted by the highest levels of air pollution exposition in the city of Rotterdam. Finally, the last objective focuses on the prediction of the average yearly levels of air pollution for six specific bike routes chose in Rotterdam.