Impact of freeway weaving segment design on light-duty vehicle exhaust emissions

ABSTRACTIn the United States, 26% of greenhouse gas emissions is emitted from the transportation sector; these emisssions meanwhile are accompanied by enormous toxic emissions to humans, such as carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and hydrocarbon (HC), approximately 2.5% and 2.44% of a total exhaust emissions for a petrol and a diesel engine, respectively. These exhaust emissions are typically subject to vehicles’ intermittent operations, such as hard acceleration and hard braking. In practice, drivers are inclined to operate intermittently while driving through a weaving segment, due to complex vehicle maneuvering for weaving. As a result, the exhaust emissions within a weaving segment ought to vary from those on a basic segment. However, existing emission models usually rely on vehicle operation information, and compute a generalized emission result, regardless of road configuration. This research proposes to explore the impacts of weaving segment configuration on vehicle emissions, identify im...