A startup I worked for years ago initially had a temporary office in a coworking space that catered to artists and craftspeople, in a renovated warehouse near the freeway loop downtown.
They didn't have air conditioning, which isn't particularly strange in the PNW, but we did learn opening the windows for breeze was a very bad idea. The amount of tire and brake dust/soot that would pile up in a single afternoon was disturbing.
We were only in there temporarily for a few months, but boy did it underscore to me how much of an unappreciated health and pollution hazard freeways are.
In Wilmington, CA, the pollution from refineries and the port of LA is often so intense that you can smell it within your car as well as see the brown tinge that hangs thick and low in the air driving southbound into the area. Its amazing that people still have to live under that today in this state of supposed environmental leaders both public and private. I guess the port makes too much money for the economy for anyone to care about the health outcomes of the people who are saddled with living near it.
If you are within a mile down wind or so of a highway the increase of pollution is really significant. The same is true for very busy roads which unfortunately often means most of an entire urban area is at risk for health problems from pollution due to busy roads.
They didn't have air conditioning, which isn't particularly strange in the PNW, but we did learn opening the windows for breeze was a very bad idea. The amount of tire and brake dust/soot that would pile up in a single afternoon was disturbing.
We were only in there temporarily for a few months, but boy did it underscore to me how much of an unappreciated health and pollution hazard freeways are.