Investigating the Effects of Transportation Infrastructure Development on Energy Consumption and Emissions

This study outlines the development of an emissions modeling process in which tractive power based emissions functions are applied to microscopic traffic simulation data. The model enables transportation planners to evaluate the effects of transportation infrastructure projects on emissions and fuel consumption to aid in selecting the projects providing the greatest environmental return on investment.;To illustrate the use of the model in evaluating transportation infrastructure projects, the benefits of two potential development scenarios in a major transportation corridor were evaluated. Weighing the benefits provided by each scenario against their associated costs revealed that greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced at a cost an order of magnitude greater than the value of a carbon credit suggesting that neither option is economical solely as a greenhouse gas emissions reduction tool.;Using the developed model, the performance of a set of simplified macroscopic velocity profiles used in an existing emissions model has been evaluated. The profiles were found to under predict the vehicle emissions due to the low acceleration rates used.