Motor Vehicle Traffic Emissions Registry
The Motor Vehicle Traffic Emissions Registry was compiled anew on the basis of traffic counts for 2009, because according to experience to date, this category of polluters contributes significantly to particulate and nitrogen oxide pollution. Traffic counters have been installed at many locations on the primary roads of Berlin since 2001. This data serve to make the current traffic patterns in Berlin accessible, and to incorporate them into traffic management. This information is evaluated in the Office of Traffic Management (VKRZ), and is used to inform the populace (especially drivers) of traffic conditions and provide routing recommendations to avoid traffic jams via radio broadcasts, the internet, and centrally located sign boards.
Ascertainment of traffic volume
Since 2002, the data from approx. 400 detectors at about 300 locations within the Berlin primary road network have been available at the Traffic Control Office. Many of these detectors distinguish between cars and lorries, and can be used for approximate annual traffic counts.
In addition for 2009, traffic count figures for car, lorries, buses and motorcycles from an official count by trained persons at many intersections ordered approximately every 5 years by the Senate Department for Urban Development were available. Compared with counts by detectors, this official traffic count has the advantage of being better able to distinguish between lorries of more or less than 3.5 t, respectively, and other motor vehicles. For 2009 therefore, this traffic count was selected as the basis for the Emissions Survey for Motor Vehicle Traffic, 2009-2020, as had been the case for the previous Emissions Registers for Motor Vehicle Traffic in 1994, 1999 and 2005.
The exhaust emissions were then ascertained as follows:
- The extrapolation of the point-related intersection counts to the entire Berlin primary road network with a traffic-flow computational model (VISA) by the Senate Department for Urban Development provided the results showing the mean daily traffic figures (DTV) and the proportions of lorries for all major streets.
- The ascertainment of the segment-related pollution of the primary road network with regular bus traffic of the Berlin Transit Company (BVG) was calculated on the basis of the bus schedule data for 2009.
- The calculation of the emissions with the emission factors from the UBA manual for emissions factors (Edition 3.1, 2004) with consideration for the type of road and its function, was ascertained with the aid of the programme IMMISem/luft.