Impact of Various Operating Conditions on Simulated Emissions-Based Stop Penalty at Signalized Intersections

Suhaib Alshayeb, Aleksandar Stevanovic and Nemanja Dobrota
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Suhaib Alshayeb: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Benedum Hall, 3700 O’Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Aleksandar Stevanovic: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Benedum Hall, 3700 O’Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA
Nemanja Dobrota: Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Benedum Hall, 3700 O’Hara Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15261, USA

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 18, 1-30

Abstract: Sustainability has become one of the most important goals when optimizing traffic signals. This goal is achieved through utilizing various objective functions to reduce sustainability metrics (e.g., fuel consumption and emissions). However, most available objective functions do not distinguish between the reduction mechanism of various types of emissions. Further, such functions do not consider the compound impact of multiple operational conditions (e.g., road gradient) influencing emissions on the optimized signal plans. This study derives a new Environmental Performance Index representing a surrogate measure for emission estimates that can be used as an objective function in signal timings optimization to reduce emissions under various operational conditions. The Environmental Performance Index is a linear combination of delays and stops. The key factor of the Environmental Performance Index is the emissions-based stop penalty, which represents an emission stop equivalency measured in seconds of delay. This study also uses traffic simulation and emission models to investigate the compound impact of several operational conditions on the stop penalty. Results show that the stop penalty varies significantly with all the investigated conditions and that the stop penalty is unique for different types of emissions. These findings may have significant implications on the current practice of sustainable signal timing optimization.

Keywords: emissions; signalized intersections; performance index; stop penalty; operating conditions; stops; sustainable signal control; signal timings optimization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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