Clean Air in Atlanta

Over the past three decades, Metro Atlanta has experienced tremendous growth and prosperity, becoming one of the nation’s major urban centers. But rapid growth has come at a high cost.



Hold Your Breath

Today, air pollution is taking a serious toll on the health of the region’s residents, putting them at greater risk for asthma, heart and lung disease, and early deaths from these problems. Atlantans routinely have to postpone or cancel outdoor activities to avoid “bad air” days during the summer when health officials post smog alerts.



How We Grow

For more than 25 years, metro Atlanta has failed to meet federal healthy air standards for smog, placing it near the top of the country’s most polluted cities. Two key factors are contributing to this problem: overdependence on cars and trucks, and sprawling, poorly planned growth that increases commuting distances. Emissions from tailpipes and other sources mix with heat and sunlight to form ground-level ozone―the smog that threatens Atlantans’ health and quality of life.



Clearing the Smoke

SELC is combating Atlanta’s poor air quality by championing reforms in transportation policy and by spurring investment in cleaner, more efficient transportation choices, such as public transit. We are also promoting better integration of transportation and land use planning to begin to rein in Atlanta’s sprawl.  



Typical of the region’s poor transportation planning is the now-stalled proposal to expand a 10-mile stretch of I-75 as it feeds into the Atlanta beltway to 23 lanes―making the road wider than the length of a football field. The result would be more air pollution and increased pressure to expand the rest of the interstate system surrounding Atlanta.



A far better alternative would be to route light rail through this section of the I-75 corridor, which would reduce the number of cars on the highway and the tailpipe exhaust they generate.