01099206

Component

Interstate 15 in Utah’s Salt Lake City metropolitan region has 38 miles of High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes. In September 2006, the HOV lanes became High-Occupancy/Toll (HOT) lanes. For a monthly fee of $50, Single-Occupant Vehicle (SOV) drivers could share the HOV lane. The 2-year experiment is a low-tech based assessment of the traffic impacts of expanding the scope of the HOV lanes. Drivers buy a sticker and are monitored by the Highway Patrol officers. If shown to improve traffic conditions, the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) will pursue electronic tolling and dynamic pricing options. This paper presents the traffic impact assessments. The most unexpected finding is that, while volumes have increased for all lanes, the mean speeds on the HOT lanes have also increased. The reduction in journey times on the HOT lanes shows that there is a pronounced advantage to road users on the HOT lanes compared to those traveling on the General-Purpose (GP) lanes for both morning and afternoon peaks. Further, despite the slight drop in the average vehicle occupancy when the HOV lane became an HOT lane, with an influx of fee-paying solo drivers, the overall number of people moved has increased. The paper concludes that the experiment of selling spare capacity to SOV drivers serves to improve speeds and Level of Service for all I-15 users in the region.

01084478

08-1908

English

13p

2008

Transportation Research Board 87th Annual Meeting

DVD

Figures; Maps; References (11) ; Tables (1)

High occupancy toll lanes; High occupancy vehicle lanes; Level of service; Operations; Single occupant vehicles; Traffic characteristics; Traffic congestion; Traffic flow; Traffic lanes; Traffic volume

Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area

Administration and Management; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Planning and Forecasting; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2008 Paper #08-1908

TRIS, TRB

Jan 29 2008 4:15PM