Investigation of the correlation of traffic emissions with the traffic characteristics of an urban area: the case of the center of Thessaloniki, Greece

Abstract

The increase of urban traffic flows leads directly to a rise of the negative externalities associated with motorized traffic. One of the major impacts is the atmospheric pollution caused by air pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles that also contribute to global warming and climate change. In the present study the effects of the urban road networks’ operational and geometrical characteristics on traffic as well as on the produced emissions are investigated along selected road segments in the city of Thessaloniki. Its road network was categorized according to the road characteristics, based on in-situ surveys. Traffic volume and composition field measurements were conducted and the collected data were used for the CO2, NOx and PM10 emission calculation due to motorized traffic using the COPERT4 emission estimation model. The findings are presented analytically, evaluated and associated with the characteristics of each road category.