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Abstract: This paper analyzes the state of the environment in the City of Novi Sad, as the representative of a typical central European city by its architectural heritage. The impact of traffic on urban environment of Novi Sad has been examined and presented through a state of air quality, noise pollution and frequency of passenger and freight vehicles in the period from 2006 to 2008. The following indicators of air quality have been measured: total amount of sediments in air, sulphur dioxide, soot, NO₂, CO, CO₂, total quantity of suspended particles, benzo(a)pyrene (BaP), benzene, and ground-level ozone. The parameters whose maximum annual values are constantly exceeding the legally permitted limits are the following: total amount of sediments in the air, soot, total amount of suspended particles and BaP as a representative of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The tree-year monitoring of the noise levels indicates the exceeding of permitted daily and nightly noise levels as well as their annual growth. Moreover, the obtained results about the average 15-minute frequency of passenger and freight vehicles in traffic also indicate an obvious growth trend. In addition, this paper brings forth one of the possible solutions for solving mentioned problems proposing the cycling as a sustainable alternative for commuting. Furthermore, it presents the research conducted in the form of a survey on cycling as a way of transportation among the students of the University of Novi Sad. Finally, the last part of the paper presents the newly built bicycle parking which has proven to be a good investment and a template for other educational institutions and companies with a large number of employees as well as ideal solution applicable in solving the great part of problems of air pollution, noise, congestion, land consumption and time for reaching the destination.

Keyword: urban environment, air pollution, noise, cycling