A couple of citizen-based air quality monitoring initiatives have attempted to find an answer to this question over the past year. They conclude that the air quality in the Vlaamse Rand is generally no better or worse than in the rest of Flanders, but there are still many areas with lots of room for improvement, such as Vilvoorde, Zaventem, Machelen and parts of Asse and Dilbeek. ‘This is all attributable to the road network. The more major routes a municipality has, the higher the concentration of nitrogen dioxide. Intersections with traffic lights or roundabouts, where traffic jams are rife, also have a very poor record’, says Katrien Smet from the Vlaamse Milieumaatschappij.
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