Evaluation of Methods for Modeling Vehicle Activity at Signalized Intersections for Air Quality Hot-Spot Analyses

Federal Highway Administration2020PDFTech ReportNaess, BrianSeppanen, CatherineArunachalam, SDowling, Richard G.Wu, ZifengFordham, DamonRouphail, Nagui M.Zamurs, JohnThe Cadmus Group, Inc.United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Natural Environment and PlanningKall, DavidHo, CeciliaClaggett, MichaelNoel, George J.United States. Federal Highway Administration. Office of Natural EnvironmentUnited StatesSignalized intersectionsVehicle trajectoriesTransportation modesAir qualityEmissions testingDrive cyclesOperating mode distributionsModes of vehicle activityMOVESCAL3QHCEmissions modelingDispersion modelingNGSIMFHWA-HEP-21-008DTFH6117D00007LKall, DavidThis report summarizes an evaluation undertaken to compare methods of representing vehicle activity at signalized intersections for use in project scale air quality analysis. This evaluation is intended to advance the state of the practice for emissions and dispersion analysis at signalized intersections, which will improve the accuracy of pollutant concentration estimates. The Next Generation Simulation (NGSIM) Lankershim Blvd. dataset was the basis for a detailed baseline that was compared to other methods that are more practical to implement. This Phase 2 report includes information on data inputs, modeling, method comparison, results, and recommendations based on two intersections of NGSIM data in Los Angeles, CA. The target audience is transportation agency technical staff undertaking project-level air quality analyses.119