Advances in Project Level Analyses

Federal Highway Administration2010PDFTech ReportE.H. Pechan & AssociatesCambridge Systematics, Inc.Federal Highway Administration (U.S.)Federal Highway Administration (U.S.)United StatesProject deliveryAnalysisEmissions testingMicrosimulationDTFH61-10-C-0006Final ReportThe project objective was to perform research and develop usable tools that can assist transportation and air quality modelers in preparing project-level emission analyses that take advantage of the capabilities of the MOVES model. In this project, the consulting team developed several sets of MOVES files detailing operating mode profiles (which are sometimes referred to here as vehicle-specific power [VSP] profiles) that simulate different types of driving conditions such as those on ramps, interchanges, freeway incidents, and signalized arterials under different levels of congestion as well as the effects of ramp metering and signal control. In addition, this project report also describes another set of MOVES files that can be used to model the unique conditions that occur at intermodal facilities and ports, capturing important activities such as idling, for the specific types of vehicles (trucks) used at these types of facilities. Finally, this report provides a demonstration of how these files can be used in MOVES. The example for which this demonstration is provided is an evaluation of emission reduction strategies that can be used to reduce truck emissions in and around port terminals.The information in this report and the associated MOVES files may provide alternatives to using default MOVES data for many project-level evaluations. Plus, the methods used in this project to generate MOVES files can be observed by others seeking to link microsimulation models and MOVES directly in order to develop data sets that are representative of travel conditions specific to their projects.104