Toxic metal accumulation, health risk, and distribution in road dust from the urban traffic-intensive environment

Owing to increasing levels of potentially toxic metals in road dust, air pollutants suspended in the air, pose significant health risks due to rapid, unplanned urbanization and industrialization. This study investigated the pollution status and health risks of trace metals (i.e., Cr, Cd, Ni, Cu, and Pb) in road dust collected from 16 locations across six land-use categories in Eskişehir, Türkiye, including residential, roadside, traffic, tram stations, and car industrial areas. The analysis of trace metals revealed distinct types of urban pollution based on these functional areas. In areas with heavy traffic, high concentrations of the elements, especially Zn, Cr, and Ni, would indicate significant toxic metal pollution. The overall contamination was evaluated using three indices: enrichment factor (EF 0.45–65.75), geo-accumulation index (Igeo − 2.50–4.18), and pollution index (PI 0.27–27.22). Human health risks of potentially toxic trace metals in urban road dust were evaluated for children and adult groups based on hazardous index (HI) and total cancer risk (TCR). The health risk assessments revealed that children (mean HIchildren 8.62E − 01; TCRchildren 6.99E + 04) are more vulnerable to toxic metal exposure than adults (mean HIadults 1.01E − 01; TCRadults 3.01E + 04), with ingestion being the primary exposure route over dermal contact and inhalation. In conclusion, we have captured the interaction between road dust and health risks, especially for children. Graphical Abstract: (Figure presented.) © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2024.