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Title:

Marginal Costs of Freeway Traffic Congestion with On-Road Pollution Exposure Externality

Accession Number:

01476083

Record Type:

Component

Availability:

Transportation Research Board Business Office

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Abstract:

The health cost of on-road air pollution exposure is a component of marginal costs in congested traffic that has not previously been assessed. The main objective of this paper is to introduce on-road pollution exposure as an externality of traffic congestion. Marginal private and external cost equations are developed that include on-road pollution exposure in addition to time, fuel, and regional pollution emissions components. Applying a set of parameter values based on the literature shows that on-road pollution exposure can be a large portion (18%) of marginal costs near freeway capacity. In an optimal pricing scenario, excluding the on-road exposure externality can lead to 6% residual welfare losses because of sub-optimal tolls. Time is the dominant cost component, but on-road exposure costs increase dramatically in congestion. The estimated marginal cost and benefit curves indicate a theoretical preference for price controls to address the externality problem. The inclusion of on-road exposure reduces the sizes of projects required to cover implementation costs for intelligent transportation system improvements, with more of an effect on the estimated benefits of road-pricing systems than traffic flow improvements. When considering distinct vehicle classes, inclusion of on-road exposure costs disproportionately affects heavy-duty vehicle marginal costs because of higher emissions rates and greater occupation of roadway capacity. Lastly, there are large uncertainties in the parameter estimates and more research is needed for on-road exposure modeling tools and linkages between repeated short-duration pollution exposure and health outcomes.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADC20 Transportation and Air Quality.

Monograph Accession #:

01470560

Report/Paper Numbers:

13-1609

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Bigazzi, Alexander Y
Figliozzi, Miguel

Pagination:

18p

Publication Date:

2013

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2013-1-13 to 2013-1-17
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Subject Areas:

Economics; Environment; Highways; I10: Economics and Administration; I15: Environment

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2013 Paper #13-1609

Files:

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Created Date:

Feb 5 2013 12:24PM