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Assessing the impact of road traffic constraints on pollution

Abstract:

Vehicle-related pollution is a main issue for many large metropolitan areas, and city administrations seek effective methods to improve the life quality of citizens, especially in downtown areas, and near places like hospitals or schools. One of the methods recently adopted is closing down these areas to traffic. However, the impact of such approaches has not been thoroughly studied. In this paper we assess whether limiting traffic for environmental reasons is feasible and efficient. In particular, we analyze the impact of blocking a street/road to avoid pollution in that zone, showing how our proposed route assignment algorithm is able to deviate traffic to minimize circulation in those places, In addition, we determine how the overall vehicle emissions in that area vary due to the traffic restrictions enforced. Experimental results show that, even when closing a single street, pollution indexes increase by 3-4 %, which raises doubts regarding the applicability and effectiveness of such methods.