1175008 - Evaluating Vehicular Emissions Due to Roadway Closure in a Connected-Automated Vehicle Environment

Roadway closure in a transportation network is known to cause non-recurring congestion because of the reduction in capacity. However, with the introduction of Connected and Automated Vehicles (CAVs), operations can be improved which will result in environmental benefits. A work zone along an urban expressway in Buffalo, NY was simulated in a case study from a previously calibrated model. Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) – Matrix was used to estimate project-level energy consumption for various proposed scenarios by changing the traffic demand, CAVs penetration rates and driving behavior. Reductions in greenhouse gases were also estimated for different target proportions of Electric Vehicles (EVs) in the fleet. When compared to base scenario with no CAVs in the network, the findings indicated that the sharpest reduction in the amount of energy consumed were obtained for the following scenarios: high traffic flow with increasing saturation of CAVs and vehicles driving normally. Scenarios with low and medium traffic flow were excluded from further analysis due to the very low operational and emissions benefits. Regarding the impact of electrification, it was observed that on average, emissions in each scenario decreased the same amount as the EVs target proportions. Further studies should attempt to evaluate the impact of merging and diverging due to presence of ramps.