Vehicle routing in an urban area: environmental and technological determinants

Abstract

This paper discusses selected environmental and technological issues of routing freight vehicles in urban areas. The conditions of organizing distribution minimizing not only realization time but also the emission of harmful components of exhaust gases are described. Time-dependant traffic conditions characteristic for densely populated urban areas are defined and discussed according to ecological aspects. Theoretical information about CO 2 emission in urban conditions are gathered and used to formulate the base of mathematical model of a Time-Dependant Vehicle Routing Problem with emission criteria function, as a version of Capacitated Vehicle Routing Problem.