Traffic Chokepoints and Public Health: How Unclogging I‑75 Could Reduce Pollution-Related Illness

Traffic choke‑points aren’t just an economic drag — they’re a public health threat. Georgia’s $1.8 billion plan to expand toll express lanes on I‑75 offers a rare policy lever to cut pollution exposure — but only if health is baked into the design.

Why this matters now: Residents of Henry and Clayton counties live and breathe the emissions created by stop‑and‑go traffic on I‑75. Short bursts of congestion spike fine particulate matter (PM2.5), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ultrafine particles — pollutants tied to asthma attacks, COPD exacerbations, heart attacks and strokes. As governors and departments of transportation scale up big infrastructure projects in 2026, policymakers must weigh not only travel time and economic throughput but also the measurable health benefits (and harms) that flow from design choices.

“When it comes to traffic congestion, we can’t let our competitors have the upper hand.” — Gov. Brian Kemp

Executive summary — what the Kemp plan proposes and the public health stakes

Governor Kemp’s proposal commits $1.8 billion to add one tolled express lane in each direction on a 12‑mile segment of I‑75 through southern Atlanta suburbs. The stated goals are reduced congestion, improved freight movement and economic competitiveness. The core public health question: will adding capacity reduce population exposure to traffic‑related air pollution — and will it do so equitably?

Short answer: it can — but only under a design that prioritizes emissions reduction, equity, and multimodal alternatives. Left unchecked, new lanes can trigger induced demand (more vehicles, more total vehicle miles travelled), which can blunt or reverse local air quality gains. In 2026, with rising EV adoption and new federal funding streams for clean transportation, states have more tools than ever to tilt large highway projects toward health gains.

How congestion translates into disease

Traffic congestion creates a potent mix of short‑term spikes and chronic exposure to combustion byproducts:

• Short‑term peaks: Stop‑and‑go patterns elevate diesel soot and ultrafine particles near on‑ramps and bottlenecks. Short spikes in PM2.5 and NO2 are linked to elevated daily rates of heart attacks, arrhythmias and stroke in multiple epidemiologic studies.
• Chronic exposure: Living within a few hundred meters of high‑volume roadways is associated with higher lifetime risk of cardiovascular disease, impaired lung development in children and increased incidence of asthma and COPD exacerbations.
• Children, seniors and people with chronic disease are disproportionately affected: pediatric asthma visits and emergency department use rise on high‑exposure days; older adults experience higher cardiovascular event rates tied to short‑term pollution elevation.

Near‑road concentrations drop steeply with distance; most studies observe the greatest gradients within 300–500 meters of a freeway. That makes communities adjacent to I‑75 especially vulnerable.

Evidence snapshot: the magnitude of risk

Meta‑analyses and large cohort studies consistently link traffic‑related pollution to measurable health effects. Representative findings include:

• Short‑term increases in PM2.5 are associated with small but meaningful increases in daily cardiovascular events (on the order of low single‑digit percent increases per interquartile rise in pollutant concentration).
• Long‑term exposure to traffic‑related air pollution is associated with higher all‑cause and cardiovascular mortality in cohort studies, even at concentrations near current regulatory limits.
• Children living near busy roads have higher rates of asthma and reduced lung function growth compared with peers farther away.

These effects compound across populations — a modest per‑person risk multiplied over hundreds of thousands of nearby residents translates into substantial public health burden.

Design choices that determine whether I‑75’s expansion helps or harms health

Infrastructure isn’t destiny. The same $1.8 billion can deliver different outcomes depending on policy details. Key levers include:

1. Tolling structure and congestion management. Simple capacity increases reduce delay only temporarily if tolls are not used to manage demand. Dynamic congestion pricing keeps lanes moving, reduces stop‑and‑go emissions and funds mitigation. Flat tolls or unrestricted access are more likely to induce demand.
2. Mode shift investments. Pairing express lanes with priority bus rapid transit (BRT), dedicated vanpools and high‑occupancy vehicle incentives captures the throughput benefits while reducing vehicle‑per‑person emissions.
3. Freight electrification and truck access rules. Heavy trucks produce a disproportionate share of near‑road particulate emissions. Prioritizing low‑emission freight corridors and accelerating charging infrastructure for medium‑ and heavy‑duty vehicles reduces near‑source pollution.
4. Near‑road mitigation for communities. Vegetation buffers, noise and pollution barriers, upgraded school and home HVAC with HEPA filters, and funding for community health clinics reduce exposures and improve resilience.
5. Monitoring and accountability. Real‑time air quality monitoring tied to public dashboards and health outcome surveillance ensures transparency and enables course correction.

Pitfalls to avoid: induced demand, inequitable benefits, and siloed planning

Experience from past highway projects shows three recurring problems:

• Induced demand: New lanes lure additional drivers; within a few years, congestion often returns and total emissions can rise.
• Distributional harms: If benefits accrue to commuters bypassing local exits while exposure remains concentrated for nearby residents, health inequities widen.
• Planning silos: Transportation agencies that evaluate travel time savings without a health impact lens miss long‑term co‑benefits and costs.

Actionable strategies to maximize health gains from the I‑75 plan

Below are practical, implementable recommendations for state and local policymakers, health systems, clinicians and community groups to ensure the I‑75 project reduces pollution‑related illness.

For policymakers and DOT officials

• Adopt a health‑first cost‑benefit framework. Require a Health Impact Assessment (HIA) as part of project approval and quantify avoided hospitalizations, asthma exacerbations and cardiovascular events from reduced congestion and from any induced demand scenarios.
• Use dynamic congestion pricing. Structure tolls to keep express lanes flowing; dedicate a portion of toll receipts to near‑road mitigation and transit upgrades.
• Mandate mitigations for adjacent communities. Funds should support air filtration in schools and clinics, construction of vegetation and sound walls, and local job programs tied to the project.
• Prioritize clean freight. Offer toll discounts or priority access for zero‑ or low‑emission trucks; invest toll revenue in heavy‑duty vehicle electrification and charging infrastructure in ports and freight yards.
• Include transit and micromobility in project scope: dedicated BRT lanes, safe pedestrian and bicycle connections to transit hubs, and secure park‑and‑ride planning to reduce single‑occupancy vehicle trips.

For state health departments and clinicians

• Integrate air quality surveillance with health data. Set up near‑road monitors and link daily AQI to hospital admissions and clinic visits to identify trends and intervene rapidly.
• Target preventive care. Expand asthma education, distribute inhaler action plans, and prioritize influenza and pneumococcal vaccination in high‑exposure neighborhoods where respiratory stress will magnify risks.
• Screen for cardiovascular vulnerability. Clinicians should document residential proximity to high‑traffic corridors as a social‑environmental risk factor and intensify risk factor control (BP, lipids, smoking cessation) in those patients.

For community groups and residents

• Demand transparency and community benefits agreements. Advocate that toll revenue fund local health mitigation, monitoring, and workforce programs.
• Lower individual exposure. Use in‑home HEPA filtration, avoid heavy outdoor activity near the highway during peak congestion, and use in‑vehicle recirculation during commutes when air quality is poor.
• Monitor and report. Join local sensor networks and report symptoms or health trends to community health coalitions to help build the case for mitigation.

2026 trends that change the calculus — why this moment is different

Three concurrent trends make the public health framing especially timely:

• Accelerated electrification. By 2026 EV adoption has grown substantially for light vehicles, and federal incentives plus state programs are pushing medium‑duty electrification. However, heavy‑duty freight still lags — which is critical, because trucks produce a large share of near‑road particulate emissions.
• Smarter pricing and data systems. DOTs now have access to AI‑driven traffic models and real‑time sensor networks that let planners test the health and emissions impacts of toll strategies before construction.
• Greater public expectation for equity. Public acceptance of infrastructure projects increasingly depends on demonstrable community benefits. Projects that do not explicitly provide for local mitigation face political risk and legal challenges.

Measuring success: metrics that matter

To move beyond rhetoric, the I‑75 project should be evaluated against public health metrics as well as mobility measures. Recommended indicators include:

• Ambient PM2.5 and NO2 concentrations at multiple distances from the highway, measured continuously.
• Counts of asthma ED visits, COPD exacerbations and cardiovascular admissions in nearby zip codes.
• Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and proportion of trips made by transit, carpool, and zero‑emission vehicles.
• Distribution of toll revenue reinvested in local mitigation and transit improvements.
• Community‑reported outcomes on noise, safety and access to employment.

Case studies and analogues — lessons from other corridors

Other jurisdictions have shown both positive and negative outcomes:

• Corridor projects that paired pricing with rapid transit and strict freight electrification mandates achieved measurable local air quality improvements and slower growth in VMT.
• By contrast, expansions implemented without demand management often produced short‑term traffic relief followed by return of congestion and higher overall emissions.

Practical advice for clinicians and community health workers

Clinicians can translate policy into practice by screening and counseling patients who live, work or attend school near I‑75:

• Ask about residential proximity to high‑traffic roads when assessing cardiovascular or respiratory risk.
• Advise patients with asthma and COPD to keep rescue inhalers accessible during peak commute hours and to consider portable HEPA units at home.
• Coordinate with local health departments to offer mobile clinics and screening events in high‑exposure neighborhoods.

What success looks like in 5 years

A health‑sensitive I‑75 expansion would lead to measurable gains by 2031:

• Lower frequency of high‑pollution days near the corridor and reduced short‑term spikes in PM2.5 during peak commuting hours.
• Stabilized or reduced VMT per capita in the metro region as more commuters shift to BRT and pooled travel options enabled by tolled lanes.
• Fewer pollution‑related ED visits and hospitalizations in the zip codes adjacent to the highway, documented through linked air quality and health surveillance.
• Visible community investments — upgraded school filtration, expanded transit access and local workforce programs funded from toll revenue.

Final analysis: the plan’s public health promise — and the devil in the details

Governor Kemp’s $1.8 billion proposal is an opportunity to demonstrate how modern highway projects can deliver both economic and public health value. The potential public health gains are real — reduced congestion can mean lower near‑road pollution exposures, fewer asthma attacks and fewer pollution‑triggered cardiovascular events. But these outcomes aren’t automatic. They depend on explicit policy choices: dynamic tolling, transit integration, freight electrification, targeted mitigation for nearby communities and robust monitoring tied to health metrics.

Policymakers in Georgia face two paths. One path uses the funding to widen capacity without demand management or compensatory community protections — a choice likely to produce temporary commute relief and unresolved or worsened pollution burdens for adjacent neighborhoods. The alternative path uses tolling as a tool for demand management, pairs lanes with clean transit and invests directly in community health — a path that can reduce pollution‑related illness and set a national example for health‑centered infrastructure.

What you can do next

If you live, work or practice in the I‑75 corridor, take these steps today:

• Contact your state representatives and request a Health Impact Assessment and community benefits agreement tied to the I‑75 project.
• If you work in healthcare, push for linking hospital admission data to local air quality monitoring so trends are visible in real time.
• Reduce personal exposure where possible: use HEPA filters indoors, limit outdoor exertion near the highway during rush hour, and follow updated asthma or cardiovascular action plans.

Public health outcomes are not incidental to infrastructure — they are integral. The I‑75 investment can be a template for healthier highway policy if Georgia commits to design choices that reduce pollution exposure, promote equity and measure health outcomes. Otherwise, it risks repeating a familiar pattern: traffic relief for commuters in exchange for greater long‑term health burdens on nearby communities.

Call to action

Demand health in infrastructure planning. Ask Governor Kemp’s office and the Georgia Department of Transportation to publish the HIA, a plan for toll revenue reinvestment in community mitigation, and a timeline for near‑road monitoring. Join local advocacy groups to ensure that the benefits of unclogging I‑75 flow to the families who live closest to the road. When transportation policy centers health, everyone travels safer, breathes easier and spends less time in emergency departments.

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