Network-wide impacts of eco-routing strategies: A large-scale case study

• An examination of the network-wide impacts of eco-routing systems.
• Eco-routing systems reduces network-wide fuel consumption and emission levels.
• Fuel savings from eco-routing systems are sensitive to the network configuration and level of market penetration of the system.
• Different vehicle types produce similar trends with regard to eco-routing strategies.
• Eco-routing system typically reduces vehicle travel distance but not always travel time.

This paper quantifies the system-wide impacts of implementing a dynamic eco-routing system, considering various levels of market penetration and levels of congestion in downtown Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio, USA. The study concludes that eco-routing systems can reduce network-wide fuel consumption and emission levels in most cases; the fuel savings over the networks range between 3.3% and 9.3% when compared to typical travel time minimization routing strategies. We demonstrate that the fuel savings achieved through eco-routing systems are sensitive to the network configuration and level of market penetration of the eco-routing system. The results also demonstrate that an eco-routing system typically reduces vehicle travel distance but not necessarily travel time. We also demonstrate that the configuration of the transportation network is a significant factor in defining the benefits of eco-routing systems. Specifically, eco-routing systems appear to produce larger fuel savings on grid networks compared to freeway corridor networks. The study also demonstrates that different vehicle types produce similar trends with regard to eco-routing strategies. Finally, the system-wide benefits of eco-routing generally increase with an increase in the level of the market penetration of the system.