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A new Allston-Brighton air quality project will install air monitoring sensors in participants’ homes to measure the Massachusetts Turnpike’s (Mass Pike) contribution to neighborhood pollution. 

Known as the “Breathe Easy, Allston-Brighton” initiative, the 18-month study will be led by the Allston-Brighton Health Collaborative (ABHC). Over the next couple of months, ABHC will install indoor and outdoor air quality sensors in the homes of over 30 participants, according to Jonathan Lee, who is the Transportation and Mobility Manager for ABHC. 

Publicly available data from local air monitors is sparse, Lee says. This community-based project seeks to fill those gaps. 

The first batch of low-cost sensors from the sensor company PurpleAir will be installed at the end of February, says Victoria Lopez, one of ABHC’s Allston-Brighton Connectors. As part of PurpleAir’s platform, users can upload their data to an online public dashboard. From there, researchers will analyze the data from the sensors and detect pollutants that they can’t capture using a mobile sensor van, Lee said. 

The sensors use laser counters to measure dust, smoke, chemicals and other particulate matter in the air. After connecting to WiFi, users can register their real-time data publicly or privately on an online map. Community projects, like “Breathe Easy,” can access community data on the map or through the software’s API. 

The initiative, funded through the City of Boston’s Clean Air Grant, is a collaboration between ABHC and researchers at Northeastern University. 

Nikhil Dasgupta, engagement and operations manager at ABHC, says that there has been a longstanding interest in the community surrounding air pollution. When the team began outreach last October and hosted their first air quality workshop on November 12, over 50 community members came. 

“What I’ve discovered through doing outreach here is that the community in Allston-Brighton is aware that [air pollution] matters, and they care about it,” Dasgupta says. 

Lopez hopes that the data from the air quality study will provide important data about the experiences of residents living along the Mass Pike for future developments, such as a major effort to realign the I-90 highway, which is part of the Allston Multimodal Transit Project.

The current highway, which runs through Allston parallel to Lincoln Street, has remained divisive and ever-present in the community since its construction in 1965. But its impacts extend beyond noise and air pollution — residents also say the highway has divided the neighborhood’s connection. 

“I think there’s sort of that scar tissue in the psyche of the neighborhood, a little bit that’s associated with this highway,” Dasgupta says. “And one of the harms we live with from this highway coming right through our neighborhood is air quality.”

Dasgupta hopes that the study will also provide residents with information to make decisions to address air pollution at an individual level.

“You always get the best solution when the person experiencing the problem understands it and can tailor a solution to their own lives, as opposed to some authority or institution trying to create a blanket solution for everyone,” he says.

The project’s next stage, expected to start in late summer or early fall, will install indoor air purifiers in participants’ homes. 

ABHC will show community members how to access and understand its data dashboard at its next public workshop on March 25. ■