Fuel Consumption Analyses for Urban Traffic Management

A primary output from the fuel consumption research conducted by the Australian Road Research Board (ARRB) is the ARRB Special Report, Guide to Fuel Consumption Analyses. This article briefly summarizes the background of the guide, describes its major features, and considers its relevance to urban traffic management decision. The guide was a result of a technical audit of studies relating to energy consumption in traffic and transport systems. A brief summary of the audit process and findings is given. The guide is intended primarily as an aid to effective use of fuel consumption models in the design of traffic management schemes. The forms of four interrelated fuel consumption models of the guide are described and their likely transferability to various situations is indicated. Each traffic and fuel consumption model is appropriate to a particular scale of traffic system. This link is shown for several selected traffic models. As an example, a discussion of the importance of accurate fuel consumption estimates for the case of priority control at a particular intersection is given.