Assessing personal exposure to traffic-related air pollution using individual travel-activity diary data and an on-road source air dispersion model

Assessing personal exposure to traffic-related air pollution poses challenges due to the limited availability of human movement data and the complexity of modeling air pollution attributable to traffic. This study develops a method for reconstructing individuals’ movement trajectories from travel-activity diaries and assesses exposure by integrating the trajectories with PM2.5 concentrations that are derived from on-road source air dispersion modeling. It finds that everyone has a unique exposure profile due to a unique combination of movement patterns and concentrations and that being in transit contributes 7.8% of the daily exposure although the amount of time spent in transit is minimal. [Display omitted] •Exposure assessments require high-resolution air pollution and human movement data.•Fine-scale traffic-related PM2.5 maps show steep gradients with distance from roads.•Personal movement trajectories can be reconstructed from travel-activity diaries.•There are within- and between-individual variations in exposure throughout a day.•Being in transit contributes 7.8% of daily exposure despite short relative duration.