• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
• /
• v.29 no.6D
• /
• pp.693-702
• /
• 2009

In the Seoul metropolitan area (SMA), transportation sector is the largest source of air pollutant emissions. Of the total amount of air pollutant emissions in the SMA, about 52% of the particulate matter emissions and 59% of the nitrogen oxide emissions are from superannuated heavy diesel vehicles. To lessen the air pollutant emissions from superannuated heavy vehicles in the SMA, this study devised several strategies for operating Environmental Zone (EZ) program, which requires superannuated heavy diesel vehicles to install reduction equipments as well as restricts them entering part of the SMA, and evaluated the effects of different strategies on air pollution in the SMA. By using the Korean traffic statistics, an evaluation has been made of six EZ scenarios, which were devised by different target areas and vehicles. The results showed that the EZ program with retrofitting a DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) equipment to 7-year-old heavy diesel vehicles and early scrapping of pre-1998 heavy diesel vehicles is the most efficient alternative in terms of air pollution reduction. In addition, the results showed that the magnitude of air pollution reduction increases when implementing the EZ program to all entering superannuated heavy diesel vehicles to the SMA rather than registered ones in the SMA.