Evaluating Impacts of Traffic Incidents
on CO 2 Emissions in Express Roads
Marina Leite de Barros Baltar, Victor Hugo Souza de Abreu,
Glaydston Mattos Ribeiro, and Andrea Souza Santos
Abstract Traffic congestion is common in large cities and on important express
roads, which imposes travel time delays, an excessive fossil fuel consumption, an
increased environmental pollution, etc. Related to it, traffic incidents such as brokendown vehicles, accidents and flat tires intensify the traffic congestion because they
generate irregular but frequent interruptions. Thus, it is necessary to implement
studies that seek to minimize the impacts of incidents. Therefore, this chapter seeks
to apply the MEET model (Methodologies for Estimating air pollutant Emissions
from Transport) to analyze the impact of incidents on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions on express roads. For conducting the case study tests, real data are used from
approximately 2,800 incidents on Avenida Brasil, the main expressway in the Rio de
Janeiro city, which were provided by the Traffic Engineering Company of the Rio de
Janeiro city (CET-Rio). The results indicate that incidents increase in 22% the CO 2
emissions, that the broken-down vehicles are the incidents with the greatest impact
on these emissions due to their high frequencies, and that the morning and afternoon
peak hours are responsible for 82.4% of the increase in CO 2 emissions related to the
incidents. In addition, using Kernel maps, it is possible to verify the sections with
the highest incidents, as well as CO 2 emissions.
Keywords Traffic management · Traffic incidents · MEET model · Environmental
pollution · Carbon dioxide · CO 2 emissions · Express roads · Rio de janeiro
M. L. de Barros Baltar · V. H. S. de Abreu · G. M. Ribeiro (B) · A. S. Santos
Transport Engineering Program (PET), Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and
Research in Engineering (COPPE), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
e-mail: glaydston@pet.coppe.ufrj.br
M. L. de Barros Baltar
e-mail: mabaltar@pet.coppe.ufrj.br
V. H. S. de Abreu
e-mail: victor@pet.coppe.ufrj.br
A. S. Santos
e-mail: andrea.santos@pet.coppe.ufrj.br
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
S. S. Muthu (ed.), LCA Based Carbon Footprint Assessment, Environmental Footprints
and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4373-3_2
35
on CO 2 Emissions in Express Roads
Marina Leite de Barros Baltar, Victor Hugo Souza de Abreu,
Glaydston Mattos Ribeiro, and Andrea Souza Santos
Abstract Traffic congestion is common in large cities and on important express
roads, which imposes travel time delays, an excessive fossil fuel consumption, an
increased environmental pollution, etc. Related to it, traffic incidents such as brokendown vehicles, accidents and flat tires intensify the traffic congestion because they
generate irregular but frequent interruptions. Thus, it is necessary to implement
studies that seek to minimize the impacts of incidents. Therefore, this chapter seeks
to apply the MEET model (Methodologies for Estimating air pollutant Emissions
from Transport) to analyze the impact of incidents on carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions on express roads. For conducting the case study tests, real data are used from
approximately 2,800 incidents on Avenida Brasil, the main expressway in the Rio de
Janeiro city, which were provided by the Traffic Engineering Company of the Rio de
Janeiro city (CET-Rio). The results indicate that incidents increase in 22% the CO 2
emissions, that the broken-down vehicles are the incidents with the greatest impact
on these emissions due to their high frequencies, and that the morning and afternoon
peak hours are responsible for 82.4% of the increase in CO 2 emissions related to the
incidents. In addition, using Kernel maps, it is possible to verify the sections with
the highest incidents, as well as CO 2 emissions.
Keywords Traffic management · Traffic incidents · MEET model · Environmental
pollution · Carbon dioxide · CO 2 emissions · Express roads · Rio de janeiro
M. L. de Barros Baltar · V. H. S. de Abreu · G. M. Ribeiro (B) · A. S. Santos
Transport Engineering Program (PET), Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and
Research in Engineering (COPPE), Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil
e-mail: glaydston@pet.coppe.ufrj.br
M. L. de Barros Baltar
e-mail: mabaltar@pet.coppe.ufrj.br
V. H. S. de Abreu
e-mail: victor@pet.coppe.ufrj.br
A. S. Santos
e-mail: andrea.santos@pet.coppe.ufrj.br
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
S. S. Muthu (ed.), LCA Based Carbon Footprint Assessment, Environmental Footprints
and Eco-design of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4373-3_2
35