Methodology for Evaluating ATIS Impacts on Air Quality

Abstract

This paper presents an analytical method for evaluating the impact of rerouting traffic guided with Advanced Traveler Information Systems (ATIS) on air quality. The method is applied to a simple road network composed of two routes with one of the routes experiencing incident congestion. The methodology can be extended to more complex networks. Total emissions of three air pollutants (CO, VOC, and NO x ) on the two routes are evaluated with and without ATIS. Emissions are evaluated for three time periods: 1993–98, 1998–2003, and the time period beyond year 2003. The findings indicate that a systemwide reduction of CO and VOC can be achieved through the implementation of ATIS. Further, more reduction in emissions of CO and VOC can be achieved with higher ATIS market-penetration levels. However, except for small market-penetration levels, ATIS may have a negative impact on NO x emissions. It is also found that ATIS alone cannot compete with improved emission controls in reducing emissions. Emission controls and ATIS together can achieve greater reductions of emissions than can be achieved by emission controls alone, which is likely to eliminate the negative impact of ATIS on NO x emissions.