Whether you're biking on the Eliza Furnace trail, surrounded by highway on both sides, biking on a
bus heavy route like Penn or Liberty, or biking past any of the large construction projects in the city, you can't help but be exposed to nasty, stinky diesel fumes. Unfortunately, the smell isn't nearly as bad
as the long term health effects of exposure to diesel emissions: in
Allegheny County alone, diesel emissions cause an estimated 13,558 work loss days, 2,300 asthma attacks, 230 non-fatal heart attacks, 162 premature deaths in 1999 alone.

A new study by the Clean Air Task Force studied different commuter methods, and determined that no matter how you commute – by car, bus, train, ferry or on foot – you're exposed to dangerously high levels of diesel particles. While biking was not studied
specifically, the point here is that commuter routes that are heavy with trucks and buses are unhealthy for
everyone that shares the road.

Fortunately, there is affordable technology that can significantly reduce the harmful particles found in
diesel emissions. Bike Pittsburgh is part
of a county wide coalition to reduce diesel pollution by working to get local diesel fleets to retrofit their vehicles with pollution control devices.