Measuring the Effects of Traffic Congestion on Fuel Consumption
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
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Supplemental Notes:
- This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADB50 Transportation Planning Applications. Alternate title: Measuring Effects of Traffic Congestion on Fuel Consumption
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Corporate Authors:
500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC United States 20001 -
Authors:
- Garcia-Castro, Alvaro
- Monzon, Andres
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Conference:
- Transportation Research Board 94th Annual Meeting
- Location: Washington DC, United States
- Date: 2015-1-11 to 2015-1-15
- Date: 2015
Language
- English
Media Info
- Media Type: Digital/other
- Features: Figures; References; Tables;
- Pagination: 15p
- Monograph Title: TRB 94th Annual Meeting Compendium of Papers
Subject/Index Terms
- TRT Terms: Carbon dioxide; Driver information systems; Fuel consumption; Metropolitan areas; Routes; Traffic congestion
- Geographic Terms: Madrid (Spain)
- Subject Areas: Environment; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; I15: Environment; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;
Filing Info
- Accession Number: 01551581
- Record Type: Publication
- Report/Paper Numbers: 15-2087
- Files: PRP, TRIS, TRB, ATRI
- Created Date: Jan 27 2015 11:23AM