The Air We Breathe: How Freight Corridors Poison Communities of Color

They promised jobs. We got asthma.
Diesel routes, sick lungs, and silence from the state.

July is Minority Mental Health Awareness Month. For too many communities of color, the source of daily stress isn’t just racism or poverty—it’s the air. You can track asthma rates, premature births, and cancer just by following the freight lines.

This series breaks down how transportation and infrastructure impact mental health in underserved communities. 


Freight moves the economy—but it also moves through people’s lungs. In cities and towns across America, truck routes, rail lines, and warehouse corridors have been carved directly through Black, Latino, and Indigenous neighborhoods. This wasn’t accidental. It was designed.

The result? Higher rates of asthma, cancer, birth complications, and cardiovascular disease. Children grow up wheezing. Elders die young. Entire families live surrounded by fumes.

When Freight Comes to Your Front Door
Ports, intermodal yards, and distribution centers bring jobs—but also bring:

  • Thousands of diesel trucks per day

  • Constant traffic congestion and noise

  • Smog, soot, and fine particulate matter (PM2.5)

These emissions don’t disappear. They settle into homes, parks, and schools. In places like:

  • San Bernardino, CA: Amazon warehouses line residential neighborhoods. A 2021 study by the Union of Concerned Scientists found that Latino communities there breathe in 65% more truck pollution than white communities (source).

  • Houston, TX: Black neighborhoods near the ship channel report cancer rates 22% higher than the state average, tied to industrial emissions (source).

  • Chicago, IL: In Little Village, a Latino community, a botched demolition of a coal plant led to a massive dust cloud—and no warning to residents (source).

Mental Health Toll of Living in the Crosshairs
It’s not just physical illness. Environmental exposure creates daily psychological trauma.

  • Parents report chronic stress caring for children with asthma and respiratory issues.

  • Families suffer depression and hopelessness after losing loved ones to preventable illness.

  • Residents express rage and fear at the visible smog, constant truck noise, and sense of abandonment.

Studies by the American Psychological Association confirm that environmental stressors like air and noise pollution can lead to long-term mental health disorders.

Truckers and the Double Bind
Truck drivers are both contributors to and victims of this system.

  • Drivers often live near the same depots they service, breathing the same fumes.

  • Low-wage, independent truckers lack health insurance despite exposure to diesel exhaust.

  • Disabled and older drivers are hit hardest, yet least supported.

This is a labor issue as well as a health crisis. Freight workers need protection too.

This is fixable. Communities have ideas. They need the power and funding to act.

  • Reroute freight traffic away from residential zones

  • Fund zero-emission truck fleets and warehouse electrification

  • Establish buffer zones and green space between industry and homes

  • Create community air monitoring stations with public transparency

  • Support local litigation and advocacy via environmental justice organizations

Conclusion
Pollution doesn’t affect everyone equally. In America, who breathes clean air is a policy decision. Fixing freight’s impact on BIPOC communities isn’t just an environmental goal—it’s a mental health emergency.

Further Resources