Existing traffic modeling approaches that are used for evaluating and analyzing the traffic operation and management strategies in a dynamic traffic network have been predominantly travel time based. These approaches are not appropriate for use in traffic networks where air quality concerns prevail, because the travel time variables and the air quality variables are affected differently by different traffic scenarios and control plans. This paper presents an alternative approach that attempts to incorporate the air quality objective directly into a dynamic traffic assignment/simulation model. The dynamic traffic assignment/simulation method, instead of the static traffic assignment method, is selected in the proposed approach in order to correctly identify the time series of a vehicle's modal events, and therefore to more accurately estimate the impacts of alternative traffic control scenarios on various travel time and air quality factors. The proposed approach can be used to effectively evaluate the air quality implications of various traffic operation and management strategies. (A)
Abstract