Buying near a motorway

Wantabeautifulhouse

I know someone that lived near a busy road. When they walked bare feet on their lawn, their feet would be black and full of muck when they came back into the house. Don't underestimate how dirty motorways can be. The M25 must be one of the worst roads for pollution. 

lookstraightahead

Op, maybe contact environmental health and see if they could point you in the right direction for stats/figures.

However, from a common sense perspective, I cannot see how the motorway wouldn't be polluting the air of a house within such close proximity. Think about what other pollutants you can see/hear/smell from that distance. We live about 200 metres from the local takeaway and we can smell that in our garden. 85 metres is 20 metres less than the length of a football pitch. It's virtually on your doorstep. 

lookstraightahead

Wantabeautifulhouse said:

I know someone that lived near a busy road. When they walked bare feet on their lawn, their feet would be black and full of muck when they came back into the house. Don't underestimate how dirty motorways can be. The M25 must be one of the worst roads for pollution. 

We had this from our main road. The front door was always covered in 'soot' 

AdrianC

Mickygg said:

Yes I am assuming electric car becomes the norm.

Electric cars are a LOT closer to becoming the norm than electric vans and electric trucks.

Bobby3210

You'll be fine next to the M25, cars do not move very quickly on there

lookstraightahead

Bobby3210 said:

You'll be fine next to the M25, cars do not move very quickly on there

Surely that's worse.

AnotherJoe

Electric cars will make almost zero difference to road noise on a motorway (unless it comes to  halt sometimes?) because its mostly tyre noise.

Pollution will certainly decrease but it will probably take at least 20 years because theres a lot of ICE cars out there that need to be replaced and thats going to take a long time.

FWIW electric cars produce far less brake dust because they use the motor for braking in many cases, not the physical brakes. They are renowned for brakes lasting a long time. No difference with tyre wear between the two though AFAIK.

The house is cheaper now to buy because of the motorway and same will apply when you come to sell. It may take longer to sell because fewer will want to buy it. And maybe with more awareness of pollution, even fewer in 20 years. Air pollution is  prematurely ending the lives of many already, this will be more well known in future.

coffeehound

I guess your compass direction from the motorway will have a significant effect -- both on pollution and noise.  The UK's prevailing winds are from the south-west quadrant, so being south/west of the road will reduce both.

I live less than a mile from the M1 and the difference in noise depending on wind direction is surprising.  Also, when there is no wind, the air pollution smells noticeably worse.

Section62

Salemicus said:

Yes, but not a motorway. Didn't mind at all. But your experience is certainly a data point.

People tend to get hung up on the "motorway" label - it is just a kind of road with particular restrictions and design standards applying to it.

Being a "motorway" doesn't automatically make a road more polluting or noisier, there are many other more important variables which are important in terms of health/amenity impacts, but "motorway" does have a fear effect on some buyers. (others of course might welcome living in an area with easy access to the national road network.)

Salemicus said:

The information I have found suggests that this place has less air pollution than the suburban cul-de-sac I currently live on, and that air pollution drops off dramatically 20m away from a motorway. But I don't know if this is real, or just cherry-picked and I am missing something.

The information on the map you linked to is obtained by computer modelling. Depending on how sophisticated the model is they will take into account things that generate air pollution, and how the pollution is dispersed (e.g. prevailing wind direction).

Volume of traffic is an indicator of pollution generation - more vehicles = more pollution. Therefore busier roads are likely to be modelled as generating higher levels of pollution.

However, (despite what many would have us believe) ICE cars are not the only source of pollution in urban areas. Gas central heating, railways and aviation are just some of the others.

Therefore a moderately densely developed suburban cul-de-sac near a busy railway could easily exceed the pollution levels found near a "motorway".

The tail-off of pollution levels (e.g. the 20m figure) is just based on assumptions made in the model. The real levels at any given time will depend on the volume being produced and the dispersal conditions - e.g. being downwind from a "motorway" is very different to being upwind.  A macro model (like the one for the whole of London) usually doesn't have the granularity necessary to understand pollution levels in a specific location.

A good starting point is to get an understanding of the different types of air pollutants (e.g. NOx, PM10, PM2.5) and how they are generated by different sources. It is also worth getting a better understanding of the variables - such as road surface type and condition - which also affects the amount of pollution (in this case particulates) generated in highly localised situations.

Gavin83

I’ve lived 2 miles away from a motorway twice (once near the M25, another near the A406/M11) and I didn’t find it a problem. In fact it was handy being that close to a motorway, made for an easy drive to just about everywhere. However I wouldn’t want to live any closer. 85m is insanely close to a motorway, that would be a complete dealbreaker for me and I expect most people.

I second what someone else said, you like the house because it’s better than you can afford elsewhere. However there’s a reason it’s cheap. I’d consider your options very carefully.