WHAT ARE MANAGED LANES?

• maximize existing capacity,
• manage demand,
• offer choices,
• improve safety, and
• generate revenue.

HOW DO MANAGED LANES WORK?

There are different strategies that can be employed to keep traffic flowing on a managed lane facility. Demand management techniques include:

• Time-of-Day Restrictions - allowing access to certain lanes at certain times of the day,
• Vehicle Type Restrictions - allowing access to managed lanes only to certain types of vehicles, such as carpools, buses, trucks, or vehicles paying a fee, and
• Value Pricing - charging motorists for access to managed lanes and/or charging at varying rates for specific time periods. All fees would be collected electronically without the need for toll booths.

Techniques that can be used to operate managed lanes offer incentives to rideshare through improved access for buses or HOVs, which is an important component of regional goals to reduce vehicle travel. Additionally, value pricing is a mechanism that may be used to offer free or reduced-fee travel at certain times as an incentive to shift motorists out of the peak hours.

The key to successfully operating managed lanes is the ability to alter the opera

tions of the lanes in ways that keep traffic flowing. This strategy provides flexibility, not only in the day-to-day operations of the lanes, but in situations where isolated incidents such as a major accident call for the lanes to be open to more or different user groups.

WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?

In addition to maximizing capacity, managed lanes may generate revenue. TxDOT estimates that it currently has only 35 percent of the funds needed to complete projects necessary to maintain mobility throughout the state. Therefore, utilizing tolling mechanisms may provide the only opportunity to get a project built. Additionally, a managed lanes project with pricing may be completed in less time than traditional state financing by using bond proceeds to finance the project. By implementing a project financed through bond money, other local non-tolling projects in the funding pipeline may be advanced more quickly.

Managed lanes may improve the safety of a roadway. By reducing congestion, the chances

for conflict are also minimized. This is especially true in the case of large trucks. Large trucks do not have the maneuverability of passenger autos and thus are at increased risk. Lanes restricted to trucks take the trucks out of the regular mix of traffic resulting in a decreased risk for both motorists and truckers.

Other potentially positive benefits of managed lanes are environmental impacts. As congestion in large urban areas increases, air quality decreases. Emissions from motor vehicles stuck in traffic contribute to the decline in air quality. Emissions, combined with other pollutants, may lead to a non-attainment designation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. This designation has many ramifications, one of which is the loss of millions of dollars in federal highway funding. This funding loss could seriously limit roadway construction.

Even though population in these urban areas is increasing and congestion is becoming worse, new roadway construction is limited by a number of factors, creating a cycle of problems. By more effectively managing existing capacity, the need to add more capacity is lessened, resulting in fewer negative community impacts. For instance, by installing managed lanes in the median of an existing roadway, TxDOT may not need to acquire additional right-of-way where neighborhoods may be affected. At the same time, the managed lanes may move more people in HOVs than simply adding general-purpose lanes.

WHERE IT'S WORKING

One of the most successful examples of a managed lane facility is the I-15 project, known as FasTrak, in San Diego, California. I-15 is a very heavily congested corridor where motorists typically experienced more than 30 minutes of delay daily. The corridor includes two reversible express lanes in the median of I-15. These lanes are separated from the other lanes with concrete barriers.

This two-lane, eight-mile stretch of separated lanes was restricted to high-occupancy vehicles with two or more people. With this restriction the express lanes were underutilized while the adjacent mainlanes of I-15 were heavily congested. The San Diego Association of Governments, the metropolitan planning organization for the area, acting with the California Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration implemented a demonstration program whereby single-occupant vehicles could use the excess capacity by paying a toll to travel in the Express Lanes. The toll varies from $ .50 to $ 4.00 depending on the level of congestion in the Express Lanes.

The I-15 project has been operating successfully since 1996. Drivers now have an option for their daily commute. HOVs continue to use the lanes free of charge, and solo drivers can decide whether or not to pay the toll for a faster commute. The operating agencies are now using the roadway capacity more effectively. The program also generates revenue that funds transit improvements in the corridor.

Bus ridership in the corridor has increased by 25 percent, and the number of daily carpools increased 57 percent since project inception. In fact, an entirely new bus service, Inland Breeze, is funded solely from revenue generated by the FasTrak program. A 20-mile extension of the project is planned.

Recent public opinion research in the I-15 corridor indicates broad support for the project. Eighty-eight percent of the FasTrak users and 66 percent of the non-users approve of the program, and a majority of both groups agree that the FasTrak program reduces congestion on I-15. A vast majority of the motorists agree that it is a good idea to have a time-savings option on I-15. These high levels of approval are represented across all income levels and ethnic groups.

(Photo courtesy of San Diego Association of Governments)

REFERENCES

1. Kuhn, Beverly, Ginger Daniels, and Debbie Jasek. Year 1 Annual Report of Progress: Operating Freeways with Managed Lanes. TTI Research Report 4160-2, Texas Transportation Institute. January 2002.

2. Collier, Tina, and Ginger Daniels Goodin. Marketing the Managed Lanes Concept. TTI Research Report 4160-7, Texas Transportation Institute. January 2002.