Potential of energy and environment savings in different infrastructural design

Detrimental air pollution related to traffic flow in the road and street infrastructure has reached the critical level in many cities. Road users and also residents near intersection are dangerously exposed for hazardous components in the exhaust pollutants. At intersections, and other disturbance points in the traffic flow, the deceleration and acceleration of vehicles give substantial additional amounts of emitted exhaust pollution and use of fuel. It is therefore necessary to pay attention to the infrastructural design aspects when looking for ways of reduce them. This paper will deal with the possibilities of quantifying the energy saving aspects of intersection design and advanced traffic signal control systems on the microlevel by recently developed methods and models for comparison of the effects of different intersection performances. The results of this paper show many ways to reduce energy consumption, and specifically save energy by reducing fuel consumption for the vehicles in the road and street infrastructure, especially in congested areas.