CONGESTION PRICING TO REDUCE TRAFFIC EMISSION

Congestion pricing is a fee-based system to improve traffic flow by charging motorists to enter busy downtown areas during peak traffic hours. The goal of congestion pricing is not only to mitigate traffic congestion during the most congested hours, but also to reduce environmental impacts of transportation. In this paper, a bi-level model is developed to optimize network flow in order to reduce traffic emission, by implementing congestion pricing. The function of gas emission with respect to link flow volume is established, and traffic flows are optimized to reduce network-wide traffic emission. Finally, a numerical example is provided to illustrate the effect of congestion pricing on reducing gas emission.