Evaluating Alternative Operations Strategies to Improve Travel Time ...

SHRP 2 L11: Final Report
Congestion Pricing (Area wide)
Congestion Pricing is a treatment with limited applications. Internationally, it has only been
applied in large urban areas such as Singapore, London, and Stockholm. Given that this treatment
requires tolling of vehicles as they enter a central area street network, its application is required on
the major travel routes (i.e., freeways and arterials) that provide access to the area. It can be
considered as an alternative to expensive and unfeasible infrastructure expansions in large
metropolitan areas.
Managed Lanes: High-Occupancy Vehicles (HOV) Lanes, High-Occupancy Toll (HOT)
Lanes, and Truck-Only Toll (TOT) Lanes
Managed lanes are applied on a variety of freeway facilities, including concurrent flow, barrier
separated, contra-flow, shoulder lane, and ramp bypass metered lanes. Within a freeway context,
managed lanes operate next to unrestricted general purpose lanes. They are also used on some
arterial roadways. Managed lanes can be operated either as tolled or non-tolled facilities. They are
most commonly found in urban areas. In urban areas, they are used to increase the person-moving
capacity of a corridor by offering incentives for improvements in travel time and reliability. The
dynamic and proactive traffic management provided by this treatment can help agencies respond
more quickly to daily fluctuations in traffic demand.
The third most-effective group of strategies for improving travel-time reliability is shown in Table
6.9. As highlighted by the supporting references, this group has the potential to reduce delays by
up to 20%. The treatments that comprise this group include: Planned Special Events Management,
Freight Shipper Congestion Information, Driver Assistance Systems, and Traffic Signal
Preemption at Grade Crossings. This group of treatments is aimed at specific traffic events and
user groups. For example, Traffic Signal Preemption at Grade Crossings is focused on reducing
delays for highway traffic caused by railroad movements. The context in which each of the
treatments could be applied is described in the section below.
Planned Special Events Management
This treatment is applied in urban, suburban, or rural locations where special events cause nonrecurring
congestion and unexpected delays to travelers. The facility types where this treatment is
most-commonly applied are arterials and freeways that provide access to and from the location
associated with the special event. Due to the magnitude of certain special events (i.e., Olympic
Games), the need for planning and managing events will become critical in the future.
Freight Shipper Congestion Information/Commercial Vehicle Operations (CVO)
Freight Shipper Congestion Information is a treatment that involves disseminating real-time travel
time information along significant freight corridors to freight operators using ITS technologies
such as DMS and VMS, GPS, and weigh-in-motion. The treatment can be applied along corridors
instrumented with these types of ITS technologies. Border Crossings are another application of this
treatment.
Driver Assistance Systems
Driver Assistance Systems such as Electronic Stability Control, Obstacle Detection Systems, Lane
Departure Warning Systems, and Road Departure Warning Systems is a treatment applied within a
vehicle rather than on a particular facility type. Nevertheless, the number of automobiles with
these safety capabilities will become more common.
Traffic Signal Preemption at Grade Crossings
OPERATIONS STRATEGIES AND TREATMENTS TO IMPROVE TRAVEL-TIME RELIABILITY Page 84