Impacts of time restriction on heavy truck corridors: The case study of Mexico City

Abstract

This paper presents a macroscopic analysis of the impact that a time restriction policy for heavy trucks on the main access corridors in Mexico City has on traffic congestion and local pollutant emissions (NOx and CO). The time restriction is a heavy truck ban at the morning rush hour.Four groups of scenarios (15 scenarios) are analyzed, taking into consideration the reactions from carriers, which were obtained from a survey. These reactions are changes to truck paths, truck size and operational schedule (off-peak operations), and the use of consolidation centers. Some scenarios also consider road infrastructure improvement as a complementary policy. This paper describes data collection and statistical analysis, the O-D matrix obtained from each scenario and the traffic assignment process. The comparison of scenarios indicates that: (1) The time restriction policy for heavy trucks on the main access corridors has a negative impact on the whole city’s total congestion and local emissions; and (2) The implementation of consolidation centers beyond the area of restriction to available land without adequate road infrastructure does not reduce the impact of the time restriction policy.