Center for Activity Systems Analysis

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) and the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) have defined a set of transportation control measures to counter the rise in vehicle emissions and energy consumption due to increased travel. The value of these TCM strategies is unknown as there are limited data available to measure the travel effects of individual TCM strategies and the models are inadequate for forecasting changes in travel behavior that result from these strategies. The work described in this paper begins to provide an operational methodology to overcome these difficulties so that the impacts of the policy mandates of both CAAA and ISTEA can be assessed. This research demonstrates the benefits in vehicle emissions reduction based on optimal scheduling and linking of the activities performed by the individuals in a household. The potential of transportation policy options to alleviate vehicle emissions is determined in a comprehensive activity-based approach. The model formulated is tested under different policy scenarios, including an evaluation of potential benefits achieved by replacing all the vehicles in the fleet by vehicles that conform to present day emissions technology.