Studying the Impact of Accelerated Construction Methods in Work Zones Using Micro-simulation on Vehicle Emissions and the Environment
Project Title
Studying the Impact of Accelerated Construction Methods in Work Zones Using Micro-simulation on Vehicle Emissions and the Environment
University
Syracuse University
Principal Investigator
Ossama (Sam) Salem, Ph.D.
Yabroudi Chair Professor of Sustainable Civil Infrastructures at Syracuse University, Syracuse University
Cliff Davidson, Ph.D.
Wilmot Chair Professor of Engineering, Syracuse University
Hesham Rakha, Ph.D.
Director of the Center for Sustainable Mobility at the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute, Virginia Tech
U of I Civil & Environmental Engineering
PI Contact Information
Funding Sources and Amounts Provided
US Department of Transportation/TranLIVE — $300,000
Syracuse University — $250,000
Virginia Tech — $40,000
University of Idaho — $10,000
Total Project Cost
$600,000
Agency ID or Contract Number
DTRT12GUTC17
Start Date
1/1/14
End Date
1/31/16
Description of Research Project
Pavement maintenance, repair and rehabilitation (MRR) processes may have considerable environmental impacts due to traffic disruptions associated with work-zones. Several studies have been conducted to determine the lifecycle impacts of construction materials used in arterial improvement projects. But most of these studies have overlooked the mobility impact due to work-zones MRR activities. According to the Texas A & M Transportation Institute Urban Mobility Report (2012) user costs due to traffic delays and additional fuel consumption have increased dramatically from $24 billion to $121 billion (in constant 2011 dollars), over the last 30 years, as a result of congestion in 498 urban areas across the country. In 2011, 56 billion pounds of additional greenhouse gases (GHG) were released just because of congestion, posing serious threats to the environment. The purpose of this study is to address the impact of work-zones on traffic and come up with a comprehensive framework to model the total emissions and its effect on storm-water runoff by simulating traffic flow around work-zones.
Each MRR activity requires certain traffic management plans (TMP) for example lane closure, narrowed lanes, phasing/ staging, reduced speed, detours, and ramp closure, all of which impacts the traffic flow. In previous studies, simulation models used to predict the emission of work-zones were mostly static emission factor models (SEFD). SEFD calculates emissions based on average operation conditions e.g. average speed and type of vehicles. Although these models produce accurate results for large scale planning studies, they are not suitable for analyzing driving conditions at the micro level such as acceleration, deceleration, idling, cruising and queuing in a work-zone. There is a need of micro-simulation analysis that can capture the effects of instantaneous changes in vehicle operation and can provide an accurate prediction of traffic and emissions for a given work-zone.
Increased traffic emissions not only affect air quality but also have indirect effect on water quality in the form of storm-water runoff. There are two ways in which atmospheric pollutants can enter the runoff. First, the pollutants can deposit in absence of rain under the effect of gravity, wind and turbulence and secondly, by dissolving with the water droplets during the rain. The pollutants washed away from pavements are mostly suspended solids, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals such as Pb, Zn, Cd and Cu. The transportation of these contaminants in water can be modeled using various hydrological models. Some popular models for storm water runoff are SWMM, HSPF, TREX, and MOUSE. These models can be integrated with traffic simulation and emission models to predict the effects of congestion, associated with work-zones, on storm-water runoff. This will provide the decision makers with a work-zone environmental assessment (WEA) framework to select suitable TMPs not only economically but also from an environmental perspective. TMPs are greatly dependent on the construction process. Accelerated construction strategies are known to have minimized construction duration and traffic disruption. Micro-simulation models can be used to calculate the change, if any, in emissions for work-zones involving accelerated construction. That way the feasibility of using accelerated construction in reducing the environmental impacts of MRR activities can be determined.
Implementation of Research Outcomes
In the first half of 2015, Sudipta Ghorai(Graduate research assistant involved in this project) visited Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and met with TranLIVE partners, Rakha and Du. Following this visit, the research team decided to make refinements in the methodology followed. It was decided to use INTEGRATION (micro-simulation model prepared by Virginia Tech) instead of integrating VISSIM and MOVES. INTEGRATION can provide the air emission data required for the project and eliminates the need of integrating micro-simulation tools with emission models. In addition, Rakha provided Syracuse University with licenses for the software INTEGRATION (large)and QueensOD, which can be used to model complex networks and generate origin-destination matrix for simulating traffic around the work-zones.Preliminary simulations were run on a calibrated model of three lane I-66 obtained from VT. Four different work-zone scenarios were analyzed i.e. i)single lane closure, ii) double lane closure, iii) single lane closure with speed reduction from 65 mph to 45 mph and iv) double lane closure with speed reduction from 65 mph to 45 mph. Results show considerable rise in emissions around work zones.
The research team is now working on collecting data on archived highway construction projects in the New York state and their traffic management plans (TMPs) which includes length of the work zone, location and the duration of traffic impacts. In parallel the team is looking for patterns among the TMPs related to a specific type of MRR activity. Data is being collected from New State’s Online Data Repository (data.ny.gov). The databases accessed are “Transportation Projects in your Neighborhood”, “Capital Projects by NYSThruway Authority” and “511 NY Events”.
Workzones for different MRR activities were identified and their corresponding TMPs were listed. The team is now in the process of using the collected data in INTEGRATION and obtaining the emission impact results.
Impacts and Benefits of the Project
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Web Links
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Keywords
- Traffic Management Plans
- Traffic Microsimulation
- Accelerated Construction
- Storm-water runoff
- Emissions