Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Atmospheric Environment
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/atmosenv

Air quality improvements following implementation of Lisbon's Low

Emission Zone
F. Ferreira, P. Gomes*, H. Tente, A.C. Carvalho, P. Pereira, J. Monjardino
CENSE e Center for Environmental and Sustainability Research, Departamento de Ci^
encias e Engenharia do Ambiente, Faculdade de Ci^
encias e Tecnologia
da Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Caparica, Portugal

h i g h l i g h t s

PM10 and NO2 levels in Lisbon have been exceeding the legal limit values since 2001.

An action plan was developed with a set of measures including a LEZ in Lisbon.

We assessed air quality and traffic data before and after LEZ full implementation.

Results show positive evolution between 2011 (before LEZ) and 2013 (after LEZ).

Stricter restrictions and enforcement are fundamental in future stages of the LEZ.

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Air pollution levels within Lisbon city limits have been exceeding the limit values established in Euro-
Received 6 February 2015 pean Union and national legislation since 2001, with the most problematic cases related to the levels of
Received in revised form fine particles (PM10) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), mainly originated by road traffic. With the objective of
27 July 2015
answering this public health issue, an Air Quality Action Plan was developed in 2006 and the respective
Accepted 24 September 2015
Available online 30 September 2015
Enforcement Plan was published in 2009. From the overall strategy, one of the major measures presented
in this strategy was the creation of a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in Lisbon, which has been operating since
July 2011. Implemented at different stages it has progressively expanded its area, including more vehicle
Keywords:
Low emission zone
types and adopting more stringent requirements in terms of minimum emission standards (currently LEZ
Environmental policy phase 2 with EURO 2 in the city center e zone 1 and EURO 1 in the rest of the LEZ area e zone 2). At the
Air quality same time the road axis comprised of Marque ^s de Pombal square and Avenida da Liberdade was sub-
Emission standards jected to profound changes in its traffic circulation model, reducing road traffic volumes.
NO2 The analysis of the air quality data before and after the LEZ phase 2 has shown positive evolution when
PM10 comparing the period between 2011 (before measures) and 2013 (after measures). In 2013, there was a
reduction in PM10 annual average concentration of 23% and NO2 annual average concentrations of 12%,
compared with the year 2011. Although PM10 reductions were more significant inside the LEZ area, the
same was not valid for NO2, suggesting that the implementation of these measures was not as effective in
reducing NO2 levels as shown by results in other cities like Berlin and London. The results from road
traffic characterization indicate a relevant effect on fleet renewal with an overall decrease in the relative
weight of pre-EURO 2 vehicles in 2012/2013, compared with data from 2011. An important increase in the
share of EURO 4 and EURO 5 vehicles was also observed. Our conclusions show that the level of ambition
is relevant for the observed effects. Therefore, stricter restriction standards should be enforced in the
future stages of the Lisbon LEZ in conjunction with a higher effort and investment on LEZ enforcement.
© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Air pollution levels in several locations in the Lisbon and Tagus

* Corresponding author. Faculdade de Cie ^ncias e Tecnologia da Universidade
Nova de Lisboa, Departamento de Cie ^ncias e Engenharia do Ambiente Campus da Valley region, particularly within Lisbon city limits, have been
Caparica, Quinta da Torre, 2829-516 Caparica, Portugal. exceeding the limit values established in European Union and
E-mail address: pmfg@fct.unl.pt (P. Gomes).

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.09.064
1352-2310/© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
374 F. Ferreira et al. / Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381
national legislation for certain pollutants since 2001. The most
problematic cases are related with levels of fine particles (PM10)
and nitrogen dioxide (NO2).
The highest pollution levels in urban centers have road traffic as
its main cause, particularly due to heavy commuting. In the city
center, the levels of air pollution threaten public health, surpassing
some of the World Health Organization (WHO) thresholds e
guideline levels for PM10 are 20 mg/m3 as annual mean, 50 mg/m3
24-h average; guideline levels for NO2 are 40 mg/m3 annual mean,
200 mg/m3 hourly average (WHO, 2006). An important and exten-
sive review work on this topic was made by Pope and Dockery
(2006) summarizing and discussing studies on short and long
term PM impact on mortality from respiratory and cardiovascular
diseases due to air pollutant exposure.
According to EU and Portuguese legislation, action has to be
taken to bring exposure concentrations to acceptable levels within
a reasonable timetable. In this context, an Air Quality Action Plan
has to be deployed ensuring the reduction of the exposure related
risks. Air quality action plans have a strong emphasis on traffic
regulation and involve policies such as the stimulation of public
transportation usage, ring road utilization, traffic flow improve-
ments, speed limit reduction, and the implementation of Low
Emission Zones (LEZ) (Panteliadis et al., 2014).
The Greater Lisbon Metropolitan Region also applied this
approach, thus in 2006, the Air Quality Action Plan for Lisbon and
Tagus Valley (AQAP-LTV) was published (CCDR-LVT and DCEA-FCT/
UNL, 2006). Its main objective was to ensure compliance with legal
limit values set out in Decree-Law no. 102/2010 of September 23,
2010 (which transposes to national legislation Directive 2008/50/
EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of May 21, 2008,
on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe. This Directive
results from the revision and merge of the previous Framework e
Directive 1996/62/EC of September 27, and Daughter Directives e
1999/30/EC of April 22, 2000/69/EC of November 16, 2002/3/EC of
February 12 and 2004/107/EC of 15 December 2004).
From all possible policies and measures (P&M) that were
identified in the AQAP-LTV, a smaller group was selected contain-
ing the P&M considered most likely to be implemented, taking into
account political, financial and technical constraints, as well as their
cost-effectiveness. In 2009, the Air Quality Action Plan's Enforce-
ment Program (AQAPEP -LTV) was published containing this
selected group of P&M (CCDR-LVT and DCEA-FCT/UNL, 2009). From
the overall strategy, one of the major P&M presented in AQAPEP
-LTV was the creation of a Low Emission Zone (LEZ) in Lisbon.
Low Emission Zones are one of a number of strategies that have
been employed by governments to try to reduce, or limit, the
emissions of air pollutants from road traffic within a specific spatial
area (Ellison et al., 2013), hence it is a specific zone that can only be
accessed by vehicles that respect certain pollutant emission stan-
dards (Browne et al., 2007). More than 200 cities and towns in 10
countries around Europe have already implemented a LEZ, namely
London, Berlin, Amsterdam and Stockholm, or are preparing its
implementation like Budapest, Trondheim and Oslo (Sadler
Consultants & EU, 2014). A LEZ can diverge in terms of
geographic scope (some extend to the full city, others enclose
restricted areas only), period of operation (some operate 24 h per
day, 365 days per year, others only on weekdays only or during
working hours), type of vehicles affected (some affect all types,
others only heavy duty vehicles), and level of strictness (depending
on the minimum EURO standard required).
Evaluating the success of a LEZ implementation may become a
very complex task since there is a wide multiplicity of indicators
that could be looked at. At the end, the LEZ effectiveness can be
assessed evaluating the expected emission reductions obtained for
air pollutants, like PM10 and NO2, but other results might provide an
inconclusive picture regarding the benefits of LEZ. Moreover,
sometimes results are not as successful and clear as originally
thought. As an example, studies in Amsterdam show that with the
exception of one urban street where traffic flows were drastically
reduced, no measurable benefit was obtained so far (Boogard et al.,
2012). Also, there were significant decreases in traffic-related air
pollution concentrations in the vicinity of a roadside monitoring
station after the implementation of the LEZ in Amsterdam
(Panteliadis et al., 2014). In Munich, there has been a positive effect
of its LEZ implementation on the reduction of particulate organic
compounds (POC) concentrations, but not significantly due to the
variation of its sources (Qadir et al., 2013). In Berlin, a study shows
that the turnover of the vehicle fleet towards cleaner vehicles has
speeded up considerably only because of the LEZ. The same study
also posts that the LEZ is the most effective single measure in Berlin,
provided that ambitious emission criteria are required within a
reasonably short time scale, not watered down by extensive
granting of exemptions for residents. However, there was a much
larger reduction in PM10 emissions than in NO2 (Lutz and
Rauterberg-Wulff, 2010). The evaluation of the London LEZ from
Ellison et al. (2013) suggests that the rate of fleet turnover for
affected vehicle classes increased substantially when the LEZ was
first introduced before returning to the national average in subse-
quent years. Also, ambient air quality measurements show a higher
decrease in PM10 concentrations within the LEZ, when compared
with areas just outside the zone. However, no discernible differ-
ences are found for NOX concentrations (Ellison et al., 2013). Other
studies show that reductions in airborne particle number concen-
tration in London are primarily due to the change in Sulphur fuel
content, and not because of the LEZ implementation (Jones et al,
2012). A recent meta-analysis from Holman et al. (2015) indicate
that in German cities (where both passenger cars and HDV are
restricted) there was a reduction in PM10 and NO2 annual mean
concentrations of up to 7% and 4% respectively due to the LEZ
implementation. It was also observed by these authors that in other
European cities (Denmark, UK, Netherlands and Italy) the effect of
the LEZ in ambient air quality is less clear, due to the influence of
several confounding factors like meteorology and the economic
crisis. However, these authors did find limited evidence that LEZs
may result in larger reductions in the concentration of carbona-
ceous particles.
Lisbon's LEZ has been implemented at different stages, pro-
gressively expanding its area, including more vehicle types (for
example, by repealing the exemption for public transport buses),
and adopting more stringent requirements in terms of minimum
emission standards required to access the LEZ (Ferreira et al., 2012).
Fig. 1 depicts the geographical scope of the LEZ and the different
zones associated with the sequential implementation areas. The 1st
phase began on July 4th, 2011 at the Marque ^s of Pombal/Terreiro do
Paço axis (zone 1). In this area, circulation of pre-EURO vehicles
(prior to 1992) was banned on weekdays between 8:00 h and
20:00 h. On April 1st 2012 the 2nd phase began, encompassing a
much broader area of about one-third of the whole city of Lisbon
(zone 2) where circulation of pre-EURO vehicles was banned. In
parallel, in zone 1 the minimum standard was increased to EURO 2.
The operative hours of the LEZ were also extended (weekdays from
7:00 h to 21:00 h). The restrictions for circulation allow several
exceptions according to the nature of activity or vehicles owner-
ship: emergency and military vehicles, historical licensed vehicles,
city residents (for zone 2), residents of city center/commerce ve-
hicles with special parking permit (for zone 1), and taxis.
At around the same time of the LEZ implementation (on
September 16th 2012), the road axis comprised of Marque ^s de
Pombal square and Avenida da Liberdade was subjected to pro-
found changes in its traffic circulation model, with the purpose of
 F. Ferreira et al. / Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381 375

Fig. 1. LEZ geographical extent (adapted from Ferreira et al., 2013).

Fig. 2. Geographical location of the three analyzed AQMS.

reducing passage traffic volume by limiting car traffic in the lateral
lanes, and the reduction of available parking spaces. A creation of an behavior was found in the time series concentrations for both
additional roundabout in Marque ^s de Pombal square in order to pollutants.
reduce congestion and associated pollution was another measure
introduced. Thus, the traffic of road vehicles began to be carried out
in two concentric ring roads: the inner roundabout distributing 2.2. Road traffic data
traffic to the main roads, and the outer roundabout for distributing
the remaining routes. With regard to road traffic data, two extensive campaigns were
performed with the objective of counting and characterizing the
vehicles, both in terms of typology (passenger cars, light duty ve-
2. Data and methodology
hicles, heavy duty vehicles, buses, taxis and motorcycles), and in
terms of age (and respective EURO emission standard). These
2.1. Air quality data
campaigns were conducted at various locations within the LEZ (12
sites in 2011 with traffic characterization of about 38 000 vehicles
In order to evaluate and monitor the combined effect of the LEZ
^s de Pombal/Avenida da and age determination of roughly 5000 vehicles, other seven lo-
and the other traffic changes in the Marque
cations in 2012/2013 allowed the traffic characterization of about
Liberdade axis, a broad set of data sources was used. Air quality data
19 000 vehicles and age determination of almost 4800 vehicles)
for the years 2001e2013 (in particular PM10 and NO2) was compiled
(DCEA-FCT/UNL, 2013). The campaigns consisted in observations in
and analyzed, based on records from the air quality monitoring
situ, for several periods during the day (morning rush hour,
station (AQMS) at Avenida da Liberdade which is a traffic hotspot
lunchtime, and afternoon rush hour). Vehicle typology was directly
located inside the LEZ zone 1. The three year period between 2011
observed and determined, while vehicle age was determined by
and 2013 was chosen with the objective of evaluating the ex-ante
observation of the license plate (which in Portugal contains the
and ex-post situation. For comparison purposes, PM10 and NO2
month and year of construction of the vehicle's engine). This data is
measurements between years 2011e2013 from two other AQMS
not available in the municipal statistics, since municipalities do not
were analyzed: Olivais, an urban background station and Entre-
usually have the technical and human resources to perform traffic
campos, a traffic hotspot. Both AQMS are located outside the LEZ
data gathering with the level of detail required for this study. Thus,
(although Entrecampos is located next to the LEZ zone 2 boundary),
it was necessary to recourse to counting teams who did the
as seen in Fig. 2.
counting and characterization of the vehicle fleet.
Air quality data was analyzed in terms of the legal limits
Moreover, real time traffic levels were also compiled and
compliance between 2001 and 2013, namely on the maximum hour
registered by the GERTRUDE system, which provides an automatic
exceedances and maximum daily exceedances allowed per year.
counting of traffic levels at different sites in the city and is the
Trends and weekly characterization of concentrations, before and
property of Lisbon Municipality (Go  is et al., 2007), although it does
after the LEZ implementation, were performed using the OpenAir
not provide traffic type distribution and vehicle age.
package for R (Carslaw and Ropkins, 2012). Time variation function
was used to assess the differences on air pollutants mean concen-
tration patterns of the daily hour, day of the week, month and mean 3. Results and discussion
daily variation of each week day, before and after LEZ imple-
mentation. For that purpose, the time series (from 1/1/2011 to 31/ 3.1. Road traffic levels and fleet turnover
12/2013) was split into two periods, before and after September
16th, 2012, which corresponds to the date of the introduction of the In the past years there has been an overall decrease in the
traffic changes in the Marque ^s de Pombal/Terreiro do Paço axis. number of vehicles circulating in Lisbon, taking into account the
The time series trend analysis was performed using the traffic levels registered by the GERTRUDE system. According to this
SmoothTrend function, which calculates the data trend in the dataset, between 2011 and 2012 there was a reduction in daily
deseasonalized monthly mean pollutant concentration, based on traffic, both inside the LEZ (3% reduction), and outside the LEZ (4%
Generalized Additive Models. The trend is presented with the un- reduction), which is evidence that the LEZ alone did not reduce the
certainties calculated using the bootstrap resample. Deseasonali- levels of road traffic in a significant way (Nunes da Silva et al., 2014).
zation was used to improve the signal on the trend since seasonal This reduction may be attributed to several factors, including the
376 F. Ferreira et al. / Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381
Fig. 3. Comparison of type of vehicle, before and after the LEZ 2nd phase implementation.
economic crisis affecting the country since 2008, a significant fuel
price increase, and traffic changes in the city center which diverted
traffic to other less congested areas or to areas outside the city
boundaries.
It should be noted that LEZ's most significant impact is not the
reduction of traffic volumes, but the change in fleet composition. By
removing older vehicles, which do not comply with the required
LEZ minimum EURO standards, there are resulting benefits in terms
of pollutant emissions. This is perhaps the most direct and relevant
LEZ indicator, crucial to measuring its effect.
The results from road traffic characterization indicate a relevant
effect on fleet renewal but no significant change was found in the
relative weight for each vehicle typology. Passenger cars and light
duty vehicles, which make up the majority of vehicles represent
roughly 80% of total traffic, present a similar weight both in 2011
and 2013 traffic counts (Fig. 3).
Even taking into account that a non-negligible amount of pre-
EURO 2 vehicles continue to circulate within the LEZ boundaries,
there was an overall decrease in their relative weight in 2012/2013,
compared with 2011 data (Fig. 4). The most recent dataset highlight
the relatively small weight of these older vehicles, with the
exception of the operating taxi fleet.
However, it should be pointed out that some of these older
vehicles are owned and used by Lisbon's city center residents,
which are exempted from meeting the LEZ requirements. Also,
some of the older buses were retrofitted with diesel particle traps,
which substantially increased the environmental performance of
these vehicles in terms of PM emissions. Complementarily (Fig. 2),
less polluting vehicles (complying with EURO 4 and EURO 5
emissions standards) increased their relative weight in most fleets
(in particular passenger cars, taxis and light duty vehicles). This
overall fleet renewal may already be a positive result of second
phase implementation of the LEZ, with more stringent re-
quirements. It should be emphasized that this is also against the
current aging trend of the Portuguese fleet, which results from the
sharp decline in new vehicle sales due to the economic crisis.
3.2. Emissions and air quality
The reduction of road traffic associated with less polluting ve-
hicles has significantly decreased emissions in the city center:
around 20% reduction for PM10 and about 8% less NOX (Ferreira
et al., 2013). These results are consistent with the reduction
measured in concentrations for the same pollutants in the Avenida
da Liberdade AQMS (Fig. 5). In the case of NO2, annual average has
been steadily decreasing since 2009, although achieving legal
compliance is still far off. Regarding PM10, the year 2013 shows air
quality improvements, both in terms of annual average (with a
declining trend since 2001 and currently within legal compliance),
and in terms of daily limit value exceedances (with only 38 ex-
ceedance days in 2013, very close to the 35 days allowed per year).
Discounting the number of days of natural dust events1 (long-range
transported African desert dust particles, as seen in Querol et al.,
2006; Escudero et al., 2007 and EC, 2011), the number of exceed-
ances will come down to less than thirty, ensuring compliance of
the daily limit value. In 2013 there was a reduction in the PM10
annual average concentration of 23% and NO2 annual average
concentrations of 12%, compared to the year 2011, which is
consistent with the above mentioned reduction on emissions.
This analysis compared the period between January 1st, 2011
and September 16th, 2012 (before the LEZ 2nd phase, and before
changes in traffic circulation), and after this day until December
31st, 2013 (Fig. 6). The results show a significant decrease in PM10
levels in the ex-ante and ex-post periods, both in hourly and daily
averages, but showing similar values during weekends, where the
LEZ is not in operation. There was also a reduction in NO2 levels,
although with much less significance. A possible explanation may
be related with information suggesting that differences in
1
The Directive 2008/50/EC provides Member States with the possibility to
subtract the contribution of natural sources before comparing the ambient air
pollutant concentrations to the PM10 limit values. A method was developed in Spain
and Portugal (Querol et al., 2006), for application in both countries. This method
(Escudero et al., 2007), applied in Portugal since 2006, allows the quantification of
the contribution of natural sources on a daily basis, and can thus be used for the
subtraction of this contribution in respect to both PM10 limit values. The procedure
is based on identifying African dust outbreak episodes (recurring to back trajec-
tories of daily air masses model as Hysplit, daily aerosol forecast models such as
SKIRON and BSC-DREAM, and information on the levels of PM measured at air
quality monitoring stations) and then on quantifying Saharan dust outbreak epi-
sodes (based on the subtraction of the non-African dust fraction to daily PM10
levels, in the African dust episode days) (EC, 2011). The indicators provided for
Directive compliance purposes for PM10, represented in Fig. 5, include the PM10
concentration subtraction due to natural dust episodes occurred from 2006 to 2013.
 F. Ferreira et al. / Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381 377

Fig. 4. Comparison of the relative weight for each EURO standard by type of vehicle, before and after the LEZ 2nd phase implementation.

Fig. 5. Annual evolution of NO2 (top) and PM10 (bottom) at Avenida da Liberdade AQMS for 2001e2013 and its comparison with limit values.
378 F. Ferreira et al. / Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381

Fig. 6. Variation in NO2 (top) and PM10 (bottom) concentrations in Avenida da Liberdade AQMS, before and after the implementation of LEZ 2nd phase and changes in traffic
circulation.

emissions, especially NOx, between the most recent EURO stan-
dards and the older ones are much smaller than anticipated when
the policy was formulated (Boogaard et al., 2012). The variations in
monthly data may have their origin in meteorological factors (like
wind regimes, precipitation and number of days of atmospheric
stability) which have no direct connection to the LEZ impacts,
rather than be explained by changes in traffic emissions.
A Wilcoxon test to the medians was performed between the two
periods (before-Pre and after-Pos 16/9/2012) in the measured PM10
and NO2 concentrations at the studied locations. The test was
performed with matlab2013, resorting to the ranksum test function
with a ¼ 0,05. The obtained statistical parameter values (presented
in Table 1 and Table 2) are the p value, h which takes the values
0 (acceptance of the null hypothesis at 5% significance level) or 1
(rejection of the null hypothesis at 5% significance level), ranksum,
that is the value of the test statistics and zval which is the obtained
value of the Z statistics for approximate calculations (http://www.
mathworks.com/help/stats/ranksum.html).
The first alternative hypothesis analyzed was if the median
values were higher during the period before the implementation of
the pollution/traffic control measures (Table 1, Pre > Pos). Results
show that there is statistical evidence that the PM10 median values
of the air pollutants after LEZ and traffic changes are lower than
before the implementation of those control measures at the three
locations, i.e. inside and outside the LEZ. A double check was done
for the alternative hypothesis that the median values of the con-
centrations measured during the two periods were different (Pre s
Pos in Table 2).
 F. Ferreira et al. / Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381 379

Table 1
Statistical parameter values obtained with the one tail side non parametric Wilcoxon test to the median concentrations (H1 is the alternative hypothesis considered). H1:
Pre > Pos (Pre < Pos).

AVL_NO2 AVL_PM10 OLI_NO2 OLI_PM10 ENT_NO2 ENT_PM10

p value 2.3182  1027 7.2453  10141 0.0548 (0.9452) 3.3838  1095 1.0 (6.00251014) 3.0947  10127
h 1 1 0 (0) 1 0 (1) 1
z val 10.7726 25.2403 1.5996 20.6677 7.4167 23.9667
ranksum 1.815110þ08 2.012410þ08 1.767410þ08 1.841810þ08 1.863210þ08 1.887010þ08

Note: Parenthesis show results on testing if median NO2 concentrations values area higher after the implementation of air pollution values (please see text for detailed
description).

Table 2
Statistical parameter values obtain with the two tail sides non parametric Wilcoxon test to the median concentrations (H1 is the alternative hypothesis considered). H1: Pre s
Pos.

AVL_NO2 AVL_PM10 OLI_NO2 OLI_PM10 ENT_NO2 ENT_PM10

p value 4.6364  1027 1.4491  10140 0.1097 6.7675  1095 1.2005  1013 6.1893  10127
h 1 1 0 1 1 1
z val 10.7726 25.2403 1.5996 20.6677 7.4167 23.9667
ranksum 1.815110þ08 2.012410þ08 1.767410þ08 1.841810þ08 1.863210þ08 1887010þ08

Regarding NO2 concentrations results did not show a straight- between parentheses). It can be stated that in Avenida da Liberdade
forward conclusion, and the third alternative hypothesis (Pre < Pos) results for NO2 show statistical evidence that there is a diminishing
was tested for Olivais and Entrecampos (Table 1, results shown trend in the median concentrations after the traffic control

Fig. 7. Trends of NO2 (top) and PM10 (bottom) levels in Avenida da Liberdade between 2011 and 2013, without seasonality.
380 F. Ferreira et al. / Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381
Fig. 8. Trends of NO2 and PM10 levels in Entrecampos (top) and Olivais (bottom) levels between 2011 and 2013, without seasonality.
measures; at Entrecampos the trend increases. In Olivais (the
background urban AQMS), the Wilcoxon test points to a similar
distribution of the measured NO2 concentrations before and after
September 16th 2012, i.e no significant changes in the medians
were found (Tables 1 and 2).
Looking at data in detail from the last 3 years, with and without
seasonality (Fig. 7), a clear reduction trend in Avenida da Lib-
erdade PM10 levels between January 2011 and December 2013 can
be observed, with an overall reduction of about 34%, as seen in
other cities where LEZ were applied. However, the same level of
reduction was not observed for NO2, presenting a 10% reduction,
and even a small increase between December 2012 and December
2013.
The same trend was detected in two other AQMS analyzed. In
Entrecampos, a reduction of 23% in PM10 levels and 7% in NO2 levels
was observed between January 2011 and December 2013. In Olivais
there was a reduction of 26% and 16% in PM10 and NO2 levels,
respectively (Fig. 8). Since similar reductions in traffic flows were
observed inside and outside of the LEZ, these results indicate that
its implementation plus the traffic changes in Marque ^s de Pombal
square, were slightly more effective in reducing PM10 concentra-
tions inside the LEZ when compared with the area outside of the
LEZ, although there seems to be no positive effect in NO2
reductions.
4. Conclusions
The air quality results obtained from the implementation of
measures assessed in this paper have been positive when
comparing the period between 2011 (before the 2nd phase of the
LEZ and traffic changes in Marque ^s de Pombal and Avenida da
Liberdade) and 2013 (post LEZ 2nd phase and traffic changes). In
2013, there was a reduction in the annual average concentration of
PM10 of 23% and NO2 annual average concentrations of 12%,
compared with the year 2011.
Although PM10 reductions between January 2011 and December
2013 were more significant inside the LEZ area, the same was not
valid for NO2, suggesting that the implementation of the LEZ plus
the city center traffic changes were not as effective in reducing NO2
levels as they were regarding PM10 levels, as shown by results in
other cities like Berlin and London. This effect may be related with a
fleet that has a large percentage of diesel vehicles, part of it with the
newer Euro 5 and Euro 6 passenger car emission standards, where
NOx emissions have not been as successfully reduced as expected.
Further monitoring of these effects will be carried on in order to
validate these conclusions.
The results from road traffic characterization indicate a relevant
effect on fleet renewal, but no significant change was found in the
relative weight for each vehicle typology. Passenger cars and light
duty vehicles, which make up the majority of vehicles represent
roughly 80% of total traffic, present a similar weight both in 2011
and 2013 traffic counts. Even taking into account that a non-
negligible amount of pre-EURO 2 vehicles continue to circulate
within the LEZ boundaries (most of them being taxis), there was an
overall decrease in their relative weight in 2012/2013, compared
with data from 2011. An increase in the share of EURO 4 and EURO 5
vehicles was also observed between 2011 and 2013.
A conclusion one can draw is that the level of ambition is rele-
vant for the observed effects. It was only after implementing LEZ
2nd phase that restrictions started to have a real impact on fleet
composition and emissions standards, and air quality improve-
ments were measured, despite the results suggesting that the effect
might not yet be significant, particularly for NO2. Therefore, stricter
restriction standards should be enforced in the future stages of the
Lisbon LEZ, (for example, EURO 3 or even EURO 4 in zone 1, and at
least EURO 2 in zone 2), in conjunction with a higher effort and
investment on LEZ enforcement (turning the present manual
enforcement into the already planned automatic enforcement
system).
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank the Regional Development and
Coordination Commission of Lisbon and Tagus Valley (CCDR-LVT,
responsible for the Air Quality Monitoring network) for the air
quality dataset provided, and the Municipality of Lisbon (C^
amara
 F. Ferreira et al. / Atmospheric Environment 122 (2015) 373e381
Municipal de Lisboa, CML, responsible for the GERTRUDE system
and for the LEZ implementation) for the traffic dataset provided.
The team likes to acknowledge the project UID/AMB/04085/2013
^mara Municipal de Lisboa) for sup-
and to Lisbon Municipality (Ca
porting this work.
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