U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration A Guide for HOT LANE DEVELOPMENT A Guide for HOT LANE DEVELOPMENT BY WITH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH U.S. Department of Transportation Federal Highway Administration PRINCIPAL AUTHORS Benjamin G. Perez, AICP PB CONSULT Gian-Claudia Sciara, AICP PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF WITH CONTRIBUTIONS FROM T. Brent Baker Stephanie MacLachlin PB CONSULT PB CONSULT Kiran Bhatt Carol C. Martsolf KT ANALYTICS PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF James S. Bourgart Hameed Merchant PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF HOUSTON METRO James R. Brown John Muscatell PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Ginger Daniels John O’Laughlin TEXAS TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF Heather Dugan Bruce Podwal COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF Charles Fuhs Robert Poole PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF REASON PUBLIC POLICY INSTITUTE Ira J. Hirschman David Pope PB CONSULT PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF David Kaplan Al Schaufler SAN DIEGO ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF Hal Kassoff Peter Samuel PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF TOLL ROADS NEWSLETTER Kim Kawada William Stockton SAN DIEGO ASSOCIATION OF GOVERNMENTS TEXAS TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE Tim Kelly Myron Swisher HOUSTON METRO COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Stephen Lockwood Sally Wegmann PB CONSULT TEXAS DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION Chapter 1 Hot Lane Concept And Rationale........................................................................2 1.1 HOT lanes Defined .................................................................................................2 Table of 1.2 Existing HOT Lane Facilities...................................................................................5 Contents 1.3 The Benefits of HOT lanes......................................................................................5 Chapter 2 The Hot Lane Planning And Implementation Process.......................................7 2.1 Origination ..............................................................................................................7 2.2 Implementation Process...........................................................................................7 2.3 Unique Concerns Associated with HOT lanes.........................................................8 2.4 Milestones in the HOT Lane Implementation Process ............................................9 Chapter 3 Organizational Frameworks For Hot Lane Projects .........................................12 3.1 HOT Lane Roles and Responsibilities ...................................................................12 3.2 Identifying a Project Sponsor.................................................................................12 3.3 Private Sector Involvement ....................................................................................15 3.4 Determining Legal Authorities and Requirements .................................................16 3.5 Operational Arrangements .....................................................................................18 3.6 Federal Assistance Programs...................................................................................19 Chapter 4 Achieving Public Acceptance...............................................................................21 4.1 Outreach for HOT lanes........................................................................................21 4.2 Project Champions and Their Role........................................................................23 4.3 Public Acceptance of HOT lanes: The Issues.........................................................24 4.4 Building Political Consensus ..................................................................................32 4.5 Marketing and Refining the Concept.....................................................................33 4.6 Towards Consensus................................................................................................35 Chapter 5 Technical Issues....................................................................................................37 5.1 Design ...................................................................................................................37 5.2 Technology ............................................................................................................48 5.3 Travel Demand Forecasting, Pricing, and Financing ..............................................51 5.4 Other Technical Analyses and Approvals................................................................60 Chapter 6 Operational Issues................................................................................................64 6.1 Lane Management .................................................................................................64 6.2 Toll Collection and Registry Procedures................................................................66 6.3 Enforcement ..........................................................................................................68 6.4 Incident Management............................................................................................70 6.5 Maintenance ..........................................................................................................71 Chapter 7 Current Hot Lane Experience ............................................................................73 7.1 Houston’s QuickRide System: ...............................................................................73 7.2 SR 91 Express Lanes..............................................................................................80 7.3 San Diego I-15 Corridor .......................................................................................87 7.4 US Route 101 Corridor—Marin and Sonoma Counties........................................90 7.5 The Denver Value Express Lane Feasibility Study ..................................................94 Chapter 8 A Guide To Hot Lane Development—Lessons Learned.................................100 8.1 Rationale..............................................................................................................100 8.2 Requisites.............................................................................................................100 8.3 Benefits................................................................................................................100 8.4 Lessons Learned ..................................................................................................101 Glossary....................................................................................................................................103 Index ........................................................................................................................................106 FHWA A GUIDE FOR HOT LANE DEVELOPMENT i List of Tables Table 1 Primary HOT Lane Roles and Responsibilities .......................................................13 Table 2 Identifying Potential HOT Lane Champions..........................................................25 Table 3 HOT Lane Cross-section Standards........................................................................37 Table 4 HOT Lane Demand Factors...................................................................................53 Table 5 Sample HOT Demand Levels.................................................................................54 Table 6 Financial Details of the SR 91 and I-15..................................................................57 Table 7 91 Express Lanes-Westbound Toll Schedule—November 2001..............................84 Table 8 91 Express Lanes-Eastbound Toll Schedule—November 2001...............................85 List of Figures Figure 1 HOT Lane Implementation Process .........................................................................7 Figure 2 HOT Lane Implementation Work Flows ..................................................................8 Figure 3 HOT Lane Planning and Implementation Milestones ............................................10 Figure 4 I-15 Brochures........................................................................................................35 Figure 5 SR 91 Website ........................................................................................................35 Figure 6 Median-Based One-Lane Reversible Flow HOT Cross-sections .............................38 Figure 7 Median-Based Two-Lane Reversible Flow HOT Cross-sections .............................38 Figure 8 Median-Based Concurrent Flow HOT Cross-sections ............................................39 Figure 9 Alternative HOT Lane Slip Ramp Configurations ..................................................41 Figure 10 HOT Lane Access, Electronic Toll Collection, and Enforcement Areas..................42 Figure 11 Tubular Markers on SR 91 .....................................................................................43 Figure 12 Concrete Barrier on I-394 Reversible Lanes, Minneapolis ......................................44 Figure 13 I-15 HOV Lanes with Slip Ramp, Orange County, California................................45 Figure 14 I-405 slip ramp and at-grade access, Orange County, California.............................45 Figure 15 Elevated HOV Drop Ramp ....................................................................................46 Figure 16 Grade Separated HOV to Highway Flyover Ramps ................................................46 Figure 17 SR 91 Signage ........................................................................................................47