PFASs, metals, and PAHs in roadside soils along 12 northern European roads with varying characteristics
By Lea Hagen, Godecke-Tobias Blecken, Kelsey Flanagan, Ali Beryani, and Maria Viklander.
J. Hazard. Mater. Adv.
July 6, 2026
DOI: 10.1016/j.hazadv.2026.101335
Roadside infiltration is widely used to manage road runoff. Despite growing evidence that road runoff contains a broad range of pollutants, most research on pollutant accumulation in roadside soils has been limited to metals and, to a lesser extent, PAHs. This study aims to investigate and compare the accumulation of PFASs, metals, and PAHs in roadside soils by assessing their occurrence, concentrations, and distributions across depth and distance from the road. Roadside soil samples were taken along 12 roads in Sweden and Germany with varying traffic intensity, speed limits, surrounding environments, and climatic conditions. Metal accumulation was generally higher along roads with higher traffic intensities and decreased with increasing distance from the road and sampling depth. In contrast, PFOS, the most frequently quantified PFAS compound in more than 70% of the samples, showed increasing concentrations with distance from the roads and no considerable variation between sampling depths, indicating its persistence and mobility. Elevated concentrations in reference samples in densely populated areas suggest background contamination as an important factor. PAH concentrations showed more inconsistent patterns, though generally suggesting dispersion through the air and site-specific factors. Several Metal and PAH concentrations exceeded Swedish and German soil quality guideline values, indicating the need for careful management of excavated materials during roadside maintenance.
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