ECOFLEX: IMPROVING AIR QUALITY WITH GREEN DYNAMIC TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT BASED ON REAL TIME AIR QUALITY MEASUREMENTS

摘要

Across the world, air quality regulations are breached due to localized high pollution episodes inrnspecific locations, or “hotspots”. Advances in air pollution monitoring techniques enable hotspotsrnto be identified more effectively; however challenges remain as to how best to reduce thernincidence and impact of these episodes. Where road traffic is the dominant source of pollutants,rnITS measures, including alternative traffic management strategies, may be deployed to mitigaternthe hotspot and contribute towards regulatory compliance.rnThis paper demonstrates how the real time local air quality is used as input for a dynamic trafficrnmanagement system. Based on the current state of the air quality, the traffic management strategyrnwill be adapted in order to improve the local air quality real time in an urban environment. Anrnenvironmental trigger signal is developed based on the local black carbon concentrations. Therntrigger decides when to switch the traffic light control system from the standard control scenariornduring good air quality to the EcoFLEX control scenario when the air quality is below a certainrnthreshold. This scenario decreases the average queue lengths and number of stops at thernintersection for motorized traffic and increases the average speeds, which are all favorable forrnreducing emissions. EnViVer simulations show an emissions reduction in EcoFLEX mode ofrn8.2% for NO_x.rnThe EcoFLEX system makes hotspot mitigation possible since it is possible to control the airrnquality locally by adapting the traffic control system, only when necessary.