Study of traffic air pollution in a commercial area: Case study Al-Diwaniyah city center.

Commercial areas consider a center of attraction for large numbers of citizens for the purpose of shopping and trade exchange, and thus traffic increases in commercial areas. The commercial areas are among the most places in city centers that suffer from traffic congestion, and consequently, the burning of motor fuels. In this paper, air pollution resulting from crowded and irregular traffic in the main commercial center of Al-Diwaniyah city in southern Iraq was studied. It covered an area of 4 km² for the emission and spread of air pollutants resulting from traffic movement. Air pollution tests for particle matter, gases, and atmospheric measurements were conducted during the year 2021 using the air pollution monitoring system. Field measurements of air pollutants were compared with a mathematical model for the purpose of calibrating and adopting it in the future prediction of the spread of pollutants according to traffic movement and according to geometry designs for roads, and the change in the vehicles number, vehicles types and speed of different transportation. the results of air pollution was compared with WHO limitation. The results showed a significant increase in the air pollution quality index (AQI), reaching 300, and it is considered among the dangerous areas for this indicator. The results showed a match of up to 98% between the results of the mathematical model and the field measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]