Virtual stop line strategy to reduce fuel consumption of vehicles at ramp meters

Ramp meters successfully decrease congestion but leave a burden on the traffic situation at on-ramps. Chaotic queuing leads to many stop-and-go movements and causes inefficiency where fuel consumption is concerned. As part of the eCoMove project, complementary strategies are being designed and evaluated to reduce fuel consumption at metered on-ramps, using vehicle-to-infrastructure communication. This paper presents the design of a strategy for reducing fuel consumption at metered on-ramps as well as its effect as derived from a simulation. The strategy uses virtual stop lines to halt upstream parts of the queue, keeping them from stop-and-go movement. The results obtained from the overall study are promising. Simulations showed that this strategy can reduce fuel consumption at on-ramps with 15 percent. Furthermore, the results of the strategy indicated fuel consumption at metered on-ramps can significantly be reduced by applying strategies which target inefficient stop-and-go movements of vehicles.