Impacts of Regional Speed Control Strategy Based on Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram on Energy Consumption and Traffic Emissions: A Case Study of Beijing

Numerous studies shown that particulate matter in the ambient environment has a significant impact on the health of the respiratory system. To understand the interrelationships between urban built environment, transportation operations and health, this study proposes an innovative approach that uses real-world GPS datasets to calculate energy consumption and emissions from transportation. The experiment used the traffic operation state in the Fourth Ring Road of Beijing as the research object and tested the impact of using the Regional speed optimization (RSO) strategy based on Macroscopic Fundamental Diagram (MFD) on energy consumption and emissions during peak hours. The impact of traffic emission on the health of roadside pedestrians is also considered. Changes in PM2.5 concentrations around four different built-up areas were calculated and compared. The computational experiments indicate that the PM2.5 pollutants exhausted by the traffic on the Ring Road during peak hours can reach up to 250 μg/m³, while the traffic emission on general roads near residential areas is only 50 μg/m³. Adopting Regional speed optimization can reduce the energy consumption of the road network by up to 18.8%. For roadside runners, the PM2.5 inhalation caused by night running in commercial and recreational areas is about 1.3-2.6 times that of night running in residential areas. Compared with morning or night running, the risk of respiratory disease caused by PM2.5 inhalation was about 10.3% higher than commuter running behavior. The research results provide a useful reference for energy conservation and emission reduction control strategies for different road types in cities and help existing cities to establish a traveler health evaluation system caused by traffic operation.