Benefits of using microscopic models for simulating air quality management measures

Abstract

The raising of awareness about air pollution has brought about legislative regulations that force local administrations to keep the concentrations of certain pollutants under the formulated thresholds. A large variety of measures have been implemented to reduce road traffic’s emissions on the local level, but the observed results are not always satisfactory. For determining the effects of such measures a priori, a simulation system could be used. Because of the high variability of traffic management measures, such a system must be capable of replicating changes in traffic flow, the vehicle fleet, as well as user behavior, including modal shifts, as well as the interactions between these parts. Often, the effects of a measure can be found in a bigger region than the directly influenced one. Thus, the system must be able to simulate traffic in large, city-wide areas. This report emphasizes why the usage of microscopic models for this purpose makes sense nowadays. It introduces an exemplary system and presents some initial results.