Last Thursday, the Nuevo León Environment Secretariat reported high levels of PM10 pollution. According to various sources, 169 µg/m3 were recorded . Compared with Air Quality Index data , New Delhi, India, averaged 108.3 µg/m3 in 2024.
Faced with this reality, the Nuevo León government published on Saturday, March 22, the agreement “establishing a demand management zone polygon and regulating the flow of motorized vehicles transporting cargo, waste, or merchandise based on their polluting emissions.” Through this agreement, it seeks to combat high concentrations of pollutants in the Monterrey Metropolitan Area (MMA) by restricting the circulation of motor vehicles not specifically destined for the MMA.
This provision will take effect on April 1. The state’s Official Gazette states that motor vehicles are a significant source of polluting emissions, including PM 2.5, black carbon (BC), carbon monoxide (CO), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
At the same time, the document states that tractor-trailers are the main source of CN with 33%, 23% of PM10 and PM2.5 and 33% of VOCs.
Under the measure sponsored by Samuel García, governor of Nuevo León, freight transport will not be allowed to operate within the management zone from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
The twelfth point of the explanatory memorandum of the agreement published by the state government describes that, according to the Comprehensive Sustainable Urban Mobility Program (PIMUS) of the ZMM, an estimated 58.2 thousand cargo vehicles circulate daily on the region’s road network.
Regarding the capacity recorded in the ZMM, the agreement states that in the case of unitary trucks, the behavior is more urban, with increases starting at 7 a.m. and a turning point starting at 4 p.m.
For articulated trucks, traffic is maintained regularly from 12 noon to 9 a.m., with its peak at 4 p.m.
The origin-destination study in the ZMM classifies trips as intra-urban, when they originate and end in the ZMM; inter-urban, when they connect the ZMM with other cities; and regional, when they are long-distance trips through the ZMM.
This is how trips are distributed according to their classification:
The thirteenth point of the agreement’s explanatory memorandum states that the state of Nuevo León has the road infrastructure to allow freight transport to continue its transit without crossing the Metropolitan Zone (ZMM). These include the Monterrey Metropolitan Area Peripheral Road, the Monterrey-Cadereyta Highway, and the Northeast Bypass. All of these routes connect with various highways and national highways.
The fifth point of the agreement instructs the Nuevo León State Highway Network to implement actions or establish incentives for transporters to use this type of infrastructure, “and make it easier for them to continue toward their final destination without traveling within the Monterrey Metropolitan Area.”
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