Environmental Impact of Road Transport Traffic. A Case Study for County of Iaşi Road Network

Abstract

The continuous increase of vehicle fleet along with the development of road transport networks has associated a wide range of externalities. Main types of externalities refer to environmental impact, expressed as Greenhouse Gas Emissions, raw materials depletion, energy and fuel consumption or disruption of ecosystem equilibrium, social impact, expressed as quality of people life, human health and economic impact, expressed as economic growth. The current development of road transport promotes a growing interest for sustainable and eco-friendly transportation worldwide. In the context of a wide range of externalities, the present paper aims to emphasize the ecological impact associated with road transportation traffic, customized for specific road networks from North-East Region of Romania and expressed in atmospheric polluting emissions. In correlation with traffic pollution, the current research highlights the exponential increase of the greenhouse gas effect and fuel consumption, providing specific strategies, necessary for the improvement of road network sustainability, based on the results of the undertaken study. The analysis of the environmental impact implies a quantitative assessment of energy consumption and CO2e emissions produced by road traffic. In this respect has been carried out the evaluation of atmospheric pollution produced by the traffic recorded in 2010, using the annual daily average traffic for the year in question. Based on the coefficients of traffic evolution it has been forecasted the pollution level for 2015, 2020 and 2030. The calculations have been performed based on the current configuration of the vehicle fleet from NE Region of Romania, investigated for two types of roads, namely a road with an optimum pavement condition in comparison with a road pavement with distresses. For the first case study, was considered a road pavement suitable rehabilitated, by intervention works of maintenance and rehabilitation, applied to an optimum moment. This case study presents the ideal situation, from traffic sustainability point of view, since the vehicles speed isn’t influenced by the pavement condition, the road level of service is free flow. The evaluation performed for this particular case study showed that, for the current vehicle fleet and average vehicles speed, the environmental impact expressed in pollutant emissions registers the lowest values. For the second case study, the evaluation focused on the ecological impact associated with the road traffic, based on the current road network pavement condition. Considering the traffic congestion and pollution increase due to road distresses, the studies in the present paper were focused on the pollution level, specific to County of Iaşi road network. For a proper analysis of pollutant emissions, associated with road transport traffic, has been used European Environment Agency (EEA) computer software COPERT 4. The software was developed to perform evaluations of air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions specific to road transport, the deliverables being consistent with the latest regulations in the field. The research objective was to deliver intervention strategies and scenarios, related with the high increase in vehicles fleet, usage of alternative fuels and CO2e emissions level, towards sustainable road transportation.