Energy consumed by road vehicles has a high impact on climate changes; indeed this energy use accounts for 23% of total energy-related Green House Gases (GHG) emissions of 2014 global GHG emissions. GHG emissions are growing constantly year after year, in spite of global objectives (COP) and researches on vehicle efficiency and modal shift. The contribution of the infrastructure to lower this energy is less studied, since it is often seen as immuable or too costly. This paper aims to demonstrate that simple and low-cost solutions exist for that purpose. Particularly a methodology has been developed, based on an optimization of the speed layout over an itinerary in order to improve the eco- driving potential of a given road infrastructure. The key point of this work is that inconsistency often exists between vehicle dynamics, road longitudinal profile and changes in regulation speeds. These changes in speed are defining the speed- sectioning of a route, and an optimization of this speed-sectioning can be easily carried out while displacing or modifying speed signs. The objective of this study is to build an optimized speed sectioning which minimizes the fuel consumption for realistic traffic and various driver behaviors, while maintaining the required safety levels. A progressive optimization loop has been worked out with a Python script including an embedded microscopic road traffic simulator. As a result, an optimized speed-sectioning is leading to a gain of 227 ml for 60 minutes of simulated flow of 100 veh/h/lane, for a modification of a single speed changing point. The overall benefits are reduced energy consumption, air pollution and noise which otherwise would have been produced by braking. This work brings an effective optimization tool for road managers and its practical application is passive and inexpensive. This methodology is suitable for rural and urbanized territories and easily adaptable to any type of traffic in various countries. In perspectives, the optimization process could be extended to a full road route and to a wide range of different speed-sectioning layouts.

energy savings, road design, road exploitation, eco-driving, speed optimisation