A Case Study of the Design Issues associated with HOV toHOT Conversion

摘要

By the end of 2005 there will be six High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lane facilitiesrnoperational in the United States. In all but one of the six facilities, the HOT lanes arernconversions from High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes. In addition to HOT Lanes thatrnwill be open later this year, there are many more around the United States that arerncurrently being studied and evaluated. There are many issues to consider in thernconversion from HOV to HOT lanes including: public support, tolling technology, design,rnenvironmental impacts, operations and maintenance and revenue collection. Becausernthe HOT lane concept is new, each of these concepts is equally critical in ensuring thatrnthe conversion is viewed as a success. In 2003 the Washington State Department ofrnTransportation was directed by their Transportation Commission to study the feasibilityrnof the conversion of an existing HOV lanes facility to a HOT lane for the purposes ofrnpilot project. Following the selection of the project corridor, the State conducted arnfeasibility study. To ensure the success of the pilot project, a sophisticated approachrnwas followed for the selection of the Pilot Project corridor and of the design of the HOTrnLane.