Evaluation of the Effectiveness of High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes Peter T. Martin, Associate Professor Joseph Perrin, Research Assistant Professor Pen Wu and Rob Lambert, Research Assistants University of Utah May 2004 Acknowledgements The research presented in this paper was supported by finding from the Mountain-Plains Consortium (U.S. Department of Transportation) and the Utah Department of Transportation through the Utah Transportation Center. Disclaimer The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the information presented. This document is disseminated under the sponsorship of the Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program, in the interest of information exchange. The U.S. Government assumes no liability for the contents or use thereof. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................1 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................................................5 2.1 Review of Other Evaluations................................................................................................5 2.1.1 Houston System ...............................................................................................................5 2.1.2 Oregon Evaluation ...........................................................................................................5 2.1.3 New Jersey Failure...........................................................................................................5 2.1.4 Virginia Success ..............................................................................................................5 2.1.5 California Evaluation.......................................................................................................6 2.1.6 Seattle HOV Evaluation...................................................................................................6 2.1.7 Performance Summary ....................................................................................................6 2.2 Review of Other Agencies’ Educational Programs ..............................................................7 2.2.1 Marketing HOV Lane in Long Island..............................................................................7 2.2.2 Gaining Public Acceptance in Tennessee........................................................................7 2.2.3 Marketing in New Jersey .................................................................................................7 2.2.4 Marketing Features and Benefits of Carpool Lanes.........................................................8 3. METHODOLOGY AND DATA COLLECTION ...................................................................9 3.1 Purpose of Evaluation .........................................................................................................9 3.2 Data Collection .....................................................................................................................9 3.2.1 Location of Data Collection...........................................................................................10 4. HOV LANE UTILIZATION ...................................................................................................11 4.1 GP Lanes vs. HOV Lanes 24-hour Volume Profile ..........................................................11 4.2 GP Lanes vs. HOV Lanes Mode Split ..............................................................................12 4.3 GP Lanes vs. HOV Lanes Throughput .............................................................................12 4.4 HOV Lane Usage During the 2002 Winter Olympic Games..............................................15 5. TRIP RELIABILITY AND TRAVEL TIME SAVINGS ......................................................17 5.1 Corridor-wide Operational Performance ............................................................................17 5.1.1 Travel Speed.................................................................................................................17 5.1.2 Trip Reliability .............................................................................................................18 5.2 Site-Specific Operational Performance...............................................................................20 6. VIOLATIONS...........................................................................................................................21 7. AVERAGE VEHICLE OCCUPANCY ..................................................................................23 8. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................25 8.1 Conclusions.......................................................................................................................25 8.2 Considerations / Recommendations..................................................................................25 REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................29 APPENDIX ......................................................................................................................................31 i LIST OF TABLES Table 4.4-1 24-hour Traffic Volume Changes at I-15 5800 South Between, During and After Olympic Games .....................................................................................................16 Table 5.1-1 Average Weekday HOV and GP Lane Location Speed............................................18 Table 5.1-2 Average Weekday HOV and GP Lane Travel Time Comparison ............................18 Table 6.1-1 Violation Rates at HOV Lane’s Ramp During Weekday .........................................22 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1.1 HOV Lanes Along 1-15 Corridor in Salt Lake Valley................................................. 2 Figure 3.1 Four Reasons to Evaluate ITS Systems ....................................................................... 9 Figure 4.1 24-Hour Traffic Volume Profiles at 5800 South........................................................ 11 Figure 4.2-1 Passengers by Mode and Lane Type....................................................................... 12 Figure 4.3-1 Throughput Comparisons at Different Locations During Morning Peak Period.... 13 Figure 4.3-2 Throughput Comparisons at Different Locations During Afternoon Peak Period . 14 Figure 4.3-3 Overall Throughput Comparisons During Peak Periods ........................................ 15 Figure 4.4-1 Traffic Volume Comparison During Olympic Games............................................ 16 Figure 5.1-1 Variation of Speed Along the HOV And GP Lane in Different Periods ................ 19 Figure 5.2-1 24-hour Traffic Speed Profile at 5800 South Southbound...................................... 20 Figure 6.1-1 Violation Comparison by Location......................................................................... 21 Figure 6.1-2 Violation Rates at 400 South HOV Ramp .............................................................. 22 Figure 7.1-1 Change of AVO Before and After HOV Operations.............................................. 23 iii LIST OF ACRONYMS ATMS Advanced Traffic Management System AVO Average Vehicle Occupancy FHWA Federal Highway Administration GP General Purpose Lanes HOV High Occupancy Vehicle ITS Intelligent Transportation System MOE Measure of Effectiveness SOV Single Occupancy Vehicle TMS Traffic Monitoring Station TOC Traffic Operations Center UDOT Utah Department of Transportation USDOT United States Department of Transportation VPH Vehicles Per Hour VPLH Vehicles Per Lane Per Hour WFRC Wasatch Front Regional Council iv EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In May of 2001, 16 miles of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane opened on the re-constructed Interstate 15 (I-15). The HOV lanes operate between 600 North and 10600 South in the Salt Lake Valley. A single northbound HOV lane and a single southbound HOV lane are separated from the four general-purpose freeway lanes in both directions by striping that allows HOV lane entrance and exit. The HOV lanes operate twenty-four hours a day and allow vehicles with two or more occupants, motorcycles, and transit vehicles. The only HOV-specific access to an arterial is located at 400 South and allows HOV-only direct access to the I-15 southbound on- ramp and the I-15 northbound off-ramp. This paper reports on a two-year study evaluating HOV lane performance. The analysis assesses the freeway operations before the HOV lanes opened with continued assessment throughout the first year of operation. It looks at automatic data from traffic monitoring stations and manual data from roadside and travel time surveys. The findings indicate that during the afternoon peak period, the HOV lane moves the same number of people as each general-purpose (GP) lane with only 44 percent of the vehicles. However, the HOV lane moves fewer people than its GP lane counterparts throughout the rest of the day during times of little or no congestion. HOV lanes show travel time savings for HOV users. According to measures of travel time between 400 South and 10600 South, relative to the adjacent GP lanes, the HOV lanes provide a 30 percent travel time savings during the afternoon peak period and a 13 percent travel time savings during the morning peak time. Furthermore, unlike the higher variation of travel times on GP lanes,