Evaluating Alternative Operations Strategies to Improve Travel Time ...

SHRP 2 L11: Final Appendices
• Energy/Environment: Simulation study on I-66 and I-95 Northern Virginia showed that VSL together with Hard Shoulder resulted
in fuel savings of up to 4.5 mpg (16).
The researchers studied air quality along a section of the Amsterdam ring road, where the speed limit was lowered from 100 km/h
to 80 km/h, and found that levels of some pollutants were reduced by up to 15 per cent (46).
The American Trucking Association indicates that bringing speed limits for trucks down to 65 mph would, at a minimum, save 2.8
billion gallons of diesel fuel and reduce CO2 emissions by 31.5 million tons in a decade. Limiting car speeds to 65mph would, at a
minimum, reduce gasoline consumption by 8.7 billion gallons and CO2 emissions by 84.7 million tons over the same 10-year
period (47).
A study of the I-35 corridor in Austin, Texas showed that by reducing the speed limit from 65 mph to 55 mph, the average daily
total NOx emission in a 24-hr period can be reduced by approximately 17 percent (48).
• Customer Satisfaction: A survey of motorists in Copenhagen, Denmark found that 80 percent of respondents had favorable
impressions of VSL and traveler information posted on Dynamic Message Signs (DMS) near a work zone (5).
Strategy: 5.6. Congestion Pricing
Category: 5. Infrastructure Improvements and Optimization
TREATMENTS AND IMPACTS:
Electronic Toll Collection (ETC)
• Safety: Addition of Open Road Tolling (ORT) to an existing Electronic Toll Collection mainline toll plaza in Florida decreased
crashes by an estimated 22% to 26% (1).
• Mobility: The Addition of Open Road Tolling to an existing Electronic Toll Collection mainline toll plaza in Florida decreased
delay by 50% for manual cash customers and by 55% for automatic coin machine customers, and increased speed by 57% in the
express lanes (1).
On the New Jersey Turnpike, E-ZPass participation and variable tolling were projected to decrease peak period traffic congestion at
urban interchanges by 15 to 20 percent and have minimal impacts on non-turnpike diversion routes (5).
Simulation studies on the New Jersey Turnpike showed that if 10% discount is applied to off peak electronic tolls , an 8.5 % delay
reduction can be observed (6).
• Efficiency: New Jersey's Turnpike EZ-Pass provided 1.2 million gallons annual fuel savings across 27 tolling locations (3).
ADDITIONAL DESCRIPTION AND QUANTITATIVE BENEFITS OF TRAVEL-TIME RELIABILITY STRATEGIES Page F-42