Mill Road Trial: Monitoring Air Quality

We have previously highlighted the study to monitor air quality and traffic movements that is being carried out during the temporary closure of Mill Road Bridge in Cambridge. We have discussed how Cambridgeshire Insight is working with Smart Cambridge and Cambridge City Council to faciliate a series of open data releases linked to the trial.

The initial release of data was related to traffic counts. As part of this trial 15 smart sensors were installed on Mill Road and surrounding streets to record numbers of pedestrians, bicycles, cars and other vehicles. The data being collated and analysed by the Smart Cambridge programme will help the Greater Cambridge Partnership and the County Council understand how people use the road network. 

These sensors have now been recording data since the beginning of June and Smart Cambridge have facilitated an open release of this data via Cambridgeshire Insight since July which will continue.

Air Quality

As part of this trial though, Smart Cambridge have also been working with Cambridge City Council who have been awarded grant funding from Defra to purchase new equipment to monitor air quality in and around and the Mill Road area. 

Raw data extracts from these devices are being released directly via Cambridgeshire Insight Open Data and can be accessed here. 

There have been 8 Air Quality Monitoring devices installed in the area. The location data of these devices can be previewed in the map below or downloaded here.

The initial data release covers the period 04/07/2019 to 27/08/2019. Initially, the data will be updated at weekly intervals and monthly thereafter. The data in this release is broken down by hourly increments. 

The data extracts are broken down by pollutent:

  • NO2- Nitrogen Dioxide
  • PM2.5:Particulate Matter 2.5
  • PM10: Particulate Matter 10

At the end of the project, detailed analysis of the data will be undertaken to assess the effect of the road closure on air quality in the Mill Road area and the trial of the new air quality monitoring equipment. This analysis will also be published.