OPTIMAL SIGNAL STRATEGY FOR FUEL CONSUMPTION AND EMISSIONS CONTROL AT SIGNALISED INTERSECTIONS

This paper presents a methodology to develop an optimal traffic signal strategy for fuel consumption and emissions control. This study specifically considers vehicle fuel consumption and emissions at signalised intersections where the traffic control causes vehicles to slow, stop, and accelerate consuming excess fuel and producing more emissions. Most existing fuel consumption and emission models for signalised intersections are developed based on instantaneous data, in which vehicle speed-acceleration-deceleration profiles are defined. However, they are unable to directly reflect the impact of traffic control measures such as traffic signal timing on fuel consumption and emissions. Within this study, signal parameters, vehicle characteristics, and geometric conditions of signalised intersections are considered in the estimation of fuel consumption and emissions. Therefore, traffic signal strategy optimisation can be developed through tradeoffs of fuel consumption, emissions, and other measures of effectiveness. Field tests producing vehicle speed and acceleration/deceleration profiles as well as FTP (Federal Test Procedure) data from the USEPA (US Environmental Protection Agency) are being combined, calibrating fuel consumption and emissions models. Numerical experiments and simulation results from the emissions and fuel consumption processor of the TEXAS model are presented, discussed, and compared. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 889271.