01551581

Component

Nowadays, road transportation sector is responsible for a considerable amount of the total energy consumption, also contributing to about 20-30% of the total man-made CO₂ emissions worldwide. In metropolitan areas, the problem is compounded by the effect of traffic congestion. Transport models, online route planners, and the latest versions of on-board navigators do take into account traffic variability in their calculation of travel times. However, the effect of traffic congestion on fuel consumption is hardly taken into consideration, thereby introducing a considerable distortion in the result and consequently, the traveler decision process. The aim of this paper is to investigate in detail, how traffic congestion affects fuel consumption and to evaluate the importance of including traffic congestion in modeling and driver information systems. This analysis is based on empirical data collected from some itineraries of a metropolitan motorway and streets of the metropolitan area of Madrid, Spain. Specifically, a total of 3,800 trips were recorded with three vehicles under different traffic conditions and driving styles. The results show considerable increase in fuel consumption under congested traffic conditions compared with free flow conditions, but also points to the differences depending on the type of itinerary

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADB50 Transportation Planning Applications. Alternate title: Measuring Effects of Traffic Congestion on Fuel Consumption

01550057

15-2087

English

15p

2015

Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

Figures; References; Tables

Carbon dioxide; Driver information systems; Fuel consumption; Metropolitan areas; Routes; Traffic congestion

Madrid (Spain)

Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I15: Environment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2015 Paper #15-2087

PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 30 2014 12:45PM