Evaluation of emission reduction benefits of traffic flow management and technology upgrade in a congested urban traffic corridor

This paper presents the results of the investigation of the three emission mitigation alternatives—upgradation to higher Euro norms, conversion to cleaner fuel and regulation of public transport, a major cause of interruption to traffic flow, from the private modes of transportation in a congested urban traffic corridor using both on-road measurements and emission modelling. The results show that the upgradation from Euro-III to Euro-VI emission standards for passenger cars could reduce up to 83–90% of CO, 86–92% of HC, 83–84% of CO₂ during peak hours and 77% of NO_x emissions during off-peak hours. The change of fuel from gasoline to CNG for auto-rickshaw could reduces up to 89% of HC and CO, 32–36% of CO₂ during peak hours and 23–56% of NO_x emissions during off-peak hours. And, by regulating the frequency of buses, emissions of CO₂, CO and HC from both passenger car and auto-rickshaw reduced up to 40–66% during peak hours and NO_x up to 40% during off-peak hours. The results, thus, showed that traffic flow management can bring significant emission reductions.