Traffic restriction policies in an urban avenue: A methodological overview for a trade-off analysis of traffic and emission impacts using microsimulation

Abstract

Urban traffic emissions have been increasing in recent years. To reverse that trend, restrictive traffic measures can be implemented to complement national policies. We have proposed a methodology to assess the impact of three restrictive traffic measures in an urban arterial by using a microsimulation model of traffic and emissions integrated platform. The analysis is extended to some alternative roads and to the overall network area. Traffic restriction measures provided average reductions of 45%, 47%, 35%, and 47% for CO2, CO, NOx, and HC, respectively, due to traffic being diverted to other roads. Nevertheless, increases of 91%, 99%, 55%, and 121% in CO2, CO, NOx, and HC, respectively, can be expected on alternative roads.