Modeling Methods for the Assessment of the Ecological Impacts of Road Maintenance Sites

Road transport is a major source of environmental pollution. Cars and trucks, which are the most common types of vehicles, exhaust a variety of pollutants (e.g. NOx and PM) that are detrimental to human health. Research on the ecological impacts of road vehicles has highlighted the importance of reducing pollutant emissions. This chapter aims to investigate the impacts of road maintenance sites on pollution in the surrounding environment, which is a slightly different and interdisciplinary aspect of the problem. Road pavement and infrastructure (bridges, viaducts, and tunnels) must be maintained for the road network to function properly. Maintenance sites interrupt the normal flow of traffic, which leads to traffic jams, higher travel times, and pollutant emissions. This chapter explores a variety of approaches to traffic emissions modeling to identify a numerical model capable of determining the ecological impacts of maintenance sites on the surrounding environment. A simple simulation will be conducted to demonstrate the importance of the subject. Research gaps are presented at the end of the chapter to guide future studies.