Since there is no dierence between uplink and downlink subframes in the IEEE 802.16 mesh mode, both downlink and uplink tra cs are transmitted within a single time frame. Hence, in most scheduling methods, only one scheduling algorithm is used for both uplink and downlink tra c. However, because of the dierent characteristics of uplink and downlink tra c, dierent scheduling methods should be used for each of the tra c types. In this paper, we focus on the mesh centralized scheduling of downlink ow in the data subframe. After comprehensive analysis of the characteristics of downlink tra c, we propose a new algorithm, called Tra c-Aware Scheduling (TAS). In this algorithm, the downlink tra c distribution is tuned for maximum concurrent transmission rate. This goal is achieved by choosing dierent link selection criteria, such as maximum demandant sender, farthest receiver and least interfered path, based on the downlink tra c analysis results. The simulation results show that our algorithm outperforms existing methods in terms of scheduling length, link concurrency, and throughput (about 13.7% in average) for the downlink tra c. Moreover, the proposed algorithm is scalable. In particular, on average, 3% improvement is achieved in terms of scheduling length at higher tra c loads and in the number of nodes.