Air quality monitoring and a traffic count survey are being carried out by the Malta Environment and Planning Authority today, Car Free Day.

Ambitious plans to close arterial roads to traffic were shelved and more realistic activities are being held in several localities instead.

The authority said in a statement data is being collected from Naxxar Road, San Gwann between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

The air quality monitoring survey will gather real time data measurements every 15 minutes. Traffic count data is also being gathered from the same station. This will calculate the number of vehicles travelling in both directions at specific times during the six-hour period.

A comprehensive analysis of the collected data will be published by Mepa in mid-October.

Four other permanent air monitoring stations that determine the concentration levels of most air pollutants every 15 minutes are also in operation.

They are located at Msida, Gharb, Zejtun and Paola.

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