- Email: [email protected]
Quantifying the effects of road pricing on roadway congestion and automobile emissions
65
Recent Doctoral Dissertations a right-turn maneuver. Three surveys of driver and pedestrians were conducted to determine their understanding of pertinent laws and traffic control devices. The results indicated that drivers were less likely to know that they must yield to pedestrians when making a left turn. Also, drivers over 75 years of age were found to be significantly less knowledgeable than other age groups about the need to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians when making left or right turns at signalized intersections. Pedestrians’ knowledge of pedestrian signal indications was also evaluated. The results of the survey indicated that pedestrians over 75 years of age were not as aware as younger pedestrians of the potential conflicts with turning vehicles during the Walk indication. Also, pedestrians’ age and knowledge in regard to the flashing Don’t Walk clearance indication were found to be inversely related to each other, with older pedestrians having less understanding of the indication than younger pedestrians.
PRICING
Evaluating the joint implementation of congestion pricing and driver information systems. El Sanhouri, lbrahim Mahmoud, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technolo~gy, 1994. Supervisor: David H. Bernstein. In this thesis, the joint implementation of congestion pricing and driver information systems is analyzed. After selecting specific pricing and information systems from among the many possible choices based on representativeness and implementability, a modeling framework is developed that analyzes the interaction of the two systems in the presence of incidents, or short-term reductions in network capacity. First, the impact of toll stations is examined by looking at the benefits and costs when stations are either upstream or downstream of the points of congestion. It is found that downstream toll stations distort the arrival times at the toll stations, resulting in toll costs that may be hard to predict. In the upstream case, negative net benefits in costs including tolls were occasionally observed. This occurred when the information system increased the total number of toll paying travelers. Modifying the information systems through reducing guidance rates eliminated or reduced this problem. Two modified pricing systems were also examined. The first consisted of tolls that were Identical across routes for better implementability. A side effect was that revenue-increasing switching was eliminated and negative benefits no longer observed. In the second, only one route was tolled. In that case the optimal route split may not be attainable because Ideally we would like more travelers on the tolled route than is possible .with the restriction on the untolled route. Finally, superadditivity was examined and it is found that for our model, only simple additivity holds. tCopies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm.
14-055 1, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Tel.
Quantifying the effects of road pricing on roadway congestion and automobile emissions. Beamon, Benita Michele, Ph.D. Georgia Institute of Technology, 1994. 108 pp. Director: Paul Griffin. Order Number DA9511564 For years, transportation professionals have been engaged in an effort to ease congestion and reduce air pollution on roadways throughout the United States. In spite of these efforts, increasing roadway congestion and poor air quality are facts of life in most urban areas. Increasingly constrained funding for roadway improvement projects, coupled with more stringent environmental legislation, make the task of improving the quality of roadway travel even more difficult. Largely due to these facts, road pricing (direct charges assessed to travelers for use of specific roads during specific time periods) as a method of accomplishing functional and environmental goals, emerges as an attractive alternative worthy of investigation. Although there has been a considerable amount of research on road pricing, there has been little significant progress made in actually quantifying the congestion and environmental effects of such programs. In this research, a model is developed to quantify the reductions in congestion and automobile emissions resulting from two types of road pricing implementations: a Five-Dollar Cordon Scheme and a One-Dollar-Per-Mile Area Link Charging Scheme. The policy issues and possibilities for implementation of road pricing in a democratic society are also investigated. The model results indicate that both schemes are effective at reducing the number of blockages, but only marginally effective at increasing average rush-hour speeds. Both schemes were also found to reduce the amount of automobile emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, and hydrocarbons. Except for reductions in nitrous oxides, the Cordon Scheme outperformed the Link Charging Scheme in every other emissions category. Based on these results, a number of recommendations are made which are designed to encourage political acceptability of a road pricing program. Finally, potential areas for future road pricing research are identified.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
A knowledge-based system approach to work shift selection for multilane highway reconstruction and maintenance projects. Ahmed, Quazi Amin, Ph.D. The University of Florida, 1993. 234 pp. Chairman: Ralph D. Ellis. Order Number DA94-31901
Recent Doctoral Dissertations a right-turn maneuver. Three surveys of driver and pedestrians were conducted to determine their understanding of pertinent laws and traffic control devices. The results indicated that drivers were less likely to know that they must yield to pedestrians when making a left turn. Also, drivers over 75 years of age were found to be significantly less knowledgeable than other age groups about the need to yield the right-of-way to pedestrians when making left or right turns at signalized intersections. Pedestrians’ knowledge of pedestrian signal indications was also evaluated. The results of the survey indicated that pedestrians over 75 years of age were not as aware as younger pedestrians of the potential conflicts with turning vehicles during the Walk indication. Also, pedestrians’ age and knowledge in regard to the flashing Don’t Walk clearance indication were found to be inversely related to each other, with older pedestrians having less understanding of the indication than younger pedestrians.
PRICING
Evaluating the joint implementation of congestion pricing and driver information systems. El Sanhouri, lbrahim Mahmoud, Ph.D. Massachusetts Institute of Technolo~gy, 1994. Supervisor: David H. Bernstein. In this thesis, the joint implementation of congestion pricing and driver information systems is analyzed. After selecting specific pricing and information systems from among the many possible choices based on representativeness and implementability, a modeling framework is developed that analyzes the interaction of the two systems in the presence of incidents, or short-term reductions in network capacity. First, the impact of toll stations is examined by looking at the benefits and costs when stations are either upstream or downstream of the points of congestion. It is found that downstream toll stations distort the arrival times at the toll stations, resulting in toll costs that may be hard to predict. In the upstream case, negative net benefits in costs including tolls were occasionally observed. This occurred when the information system increased the total number of toll paying travelers. Modifying the information systems through reducing guidance rates eliminated or reduced this problem. Two modified pricing systems were also examined. The first consisted of tolls that were Identical across routes for better implementability. A side effect was that revenue-increasing switching was eliminated and negative benefits no longer observed. In the second, only one route was tolled. In that case the optimal route split may not be attainable because Ideally we would like more travelers on the tolled route than is possible .with the restriction on the untolled route. Finally, superadditivity was examined and it is found that for our model, only simple additivity holds. tCopies available exclusively from MIT Libraries, Rm.
14-055 1, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307. 617-253-5668; Fax 617-253-1690.)
Tel.
Quantifying the effects of road pricing on roadway congestion and automobile emissions. Beamon, Benita Michele, Ph.D. Georgia Institute of Technology, 1994. 108 pp. Director: Paul Griffin. Order Number DA9511564 For years, transportation professionals have been engaged in an effort to ease congestion and reduce air pollution on roadways throughout the United States. In spite of these efforts, increasing roadway congestion and poor air quality are facts of life in most urban areas. Increasingly constrained funding for roadway improvement projects, coupled with more stringent environmental legislation, make the task of improving the quality of roadway travel even more difficult. Largely due to these facts, road pricing (direct charges assessed to travelers for use of specific roads during specific time periods) as a method of accomplishing functional and environmental goals, emerges as an attractive alternative worthy of investigation. Although there has been a considerable amount of research on road pricing, there has been little significant progress made in actually quantifying the congestion and environmental effects of such programs. In this research, a model is developed to quantify the reductions in congestion and automobile emissions resulting from two types of road pricing implementations: a Five-Dollar Cordon Scheme and a One-Dollar-Per-Mile Area Link Charging Scheme. The policy issues and possibilities for implementation of road pricing in a democratic society are also investigated. The model results indicate that both schemes are effective at reducing the number of blockages, but only marginally effective at increasing average rush-hour speeds. Both schemes were also found to reduce the amount of automobile emissions of carbon monoxide, nitrous oxides, and hydrocarbons. Except for reductions in nitrous oxides, the Cordon Scheme outperformed the Link Charging Scheme in every other emissions category. Based on these results, a number of recommendations are made which are designed to encourage political acceptability of a road pricing program. Finally, potential areas for future road pricing research are identified.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
A knowledge-based system approach to work shift selection for multilane highway reconstruction and maintenance projects. Ahmed, Quazi Amin, Ph.D. The University of Florida, 1993. 234 pp. Chairman: Ralph D. Ellis. Order Number DA94-31901