One of the most important parameters that controls the suspension of road dust particles in the air is road surface moisture. This is calculated every hour from a budget equation that takes into account precipitation, evaporation and runoff. During wet conditions a road dust layer is built up from road wear which strongly depends on the use of studded tyres and road sanding. The dust layer is reduced during dry road conditions by suspension of particles due to vehicle-induced turbulence. The dust layer is also reduced by wash-off due to precipitation. Direct non-tailpipe vehicle emissions due to the wear and tear of the road surface, brakes and tyres are accounted for in the traditional way as constant emission factors expressed as mass emitted per vehicle kilometre. The model results are compared with measurements from both a narrow street canyon in the city centre of Stockholm and from an open highway outside the city. The model is able to account for the main features in the day-to-day mean PM10 variability for the street canyon and for the highway. A peak in the PM10 concentration is typically observed in late winter and early spring in the Nordic countries where studded tyres are used. This behaviour is due to a combination of factors: frequent conditions with dry roads, high number of cars with studded tyres and an accumulated road dust layer that increases suspension of particles. The study shows that using a constant emission factor for PM10 or relating PM10 emissions to NOx cannot be used for prediction of day-to-day variations in PM10 concentrations in the traffic environments studied here. The model needs to describe variations in dust load, wetness of the road and how dust suspension interacts with these processes. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.