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National Road Pricing Conference

Shoulder Conversion to HOT Lane Workshop
Workshop Presentation

Slide 1

Shoulder Conversion to HOT Lane Workshop

National Road Pricing Conference
June 4, 2010

Ginger Goodin, Texas Transportation Institute
Greg Jones, Federal Highway Administration

Photos. Collection of photos having to do with HOT lanes. For visual interest.

Slide 2

Workshop Purpose

Provide hands-on practice in applying lessons learned and best practices from implemented projects across the country

  • Understand the challenges in implementing pricing projects
  • Move pricing forward in your area

Slide 3

Workshop Agenda

  • Review of Project
  • Break into groups for exercises
  • Five subject areas covered
    • 5-10 minute overview of subject area
    • 35-40 minutes to complete exercise
    • Break for lunch after second round of exercises
  • Group reports

Slide 4

Subject Areas

  • Planning
  • Operations
  • Design
  • Funding and Finance
  • Outreach

No specific order, all have overlapping elements

Slide 5

Our Project

  • Length: 15 miles

  • 6 lanes with 10' shoulders on both sides

  • 165,000 AADT and growing

  • Peak period speeds consistently reach 30mph

  • Drainage inlets every 0.5 mile with 4" depression in left shoulder

  • Additional 20' of ROW periodically available beyond right shoulder

  • Rumble strips on outside edgelines

  • Four bridge abutments exist along the facility

  • Existing ITS components include cameras, loop detection in all lanes at half mile spacing and on freeway ramps, DMS, & ramp meters.

Graphic. Visual diagram of the Shoulder Conversion to HOT Lane project - cropped.

Slide 6

Graphic. The diagram shows a 15-mile radial freeway with 6-lanes and an Average Annual Daily Traffic (AADT) of 165,000. The Freeway connects downtown employment on the lower left corner and a suburban community in the upper right corner. This community has a population of 20,000; a medium income of $75,000; 20 percent minority, and 1.9 automobiles per household. The freeway peak travel time on the general purpose lane from this suburban community to downtown is 20-30 minutes. There are two park and ride locations along the freeway with transit service. The one located next to the suburban community in the upper right corner has a transit peak travel time of 25-30 minutes. The other park and ride lot is located next to a suburban community north of the freeway 8-miles from downtown. The freeway peak travel time on the general purpose lane from this suburban community to downtown is 12-16 minutes. This suburban community has a population of 40,000; a medium income of $40,000, 40 percent minority, and 1.3 automobiles per household. There is a competing arterial connecting the suburban community and the downtown employment center below the radial freeway. The arterial is 20 mile in length with peak travel time of 25-45 minutes. There is a competing radial freeway straight north of the downtown employment. This competing freeway is very congested and is currently 4-lanes to be expanded to 6-lanes in the future. For the overall diagram there is a total travelshed population of 200,000; a $50,000 median income; 30 percent minorities, and 1.5 autos per household.

Slide 7

Project Characteristics

  • Corridor History
    • Congestion worsening
    • Downtown businesses seeking alternatives to bring more commuters downtown
    • Opposition to capacity improvements on adjacent radial corridor from environmental interests
  • Corridor demographics
    • Varies by sub-area
    • Total travelshed population = 200,000
    • $50,000 median income
    • 30% minorities
    • 1.5 autos per household

Slide 8

Project Characteristics

General Purpose Lanes

  • 6 lanes with 10' shoulders
  • 165,000 AADT and growing
Bar Graph. Bar graph showing Traffic Volume by time-of-day. Peak hours include 6:00-9:00 am and 4:00-7:00 pm with the maxium number of vehicles per hour occurring between 7:00 and 8:00 am and 5:00 and 6:00 pm. Vehicles per hour doesn't begin to fall to its lowest level until 7:00 pm and steadily decreases until 2:00 am. The hours between the two peaks stay around 8,000 to 10,000 vehicles per hour.

Slide 9

Project Characteristics

Project Partners
  • State DOT
    • Owner of lanes and ROW
    • Operator of freeway
  • Transit authority
    • Operator of express bus service and park-and-ride facilities
  • Regional toll authority
    • Operates one toll road in region
      • Cash and transponder-based electronic tolling
  • Metropolitan Planning Organization
  • State Police
    • Enforces traffic laws on state highways

Slide 10

Project Characteristics

  • Legal authority – HOT and shoulder running allowed by state statute
  • Regional policies – none for shoulder conversion
  • Project partners – state DOT (owner of ROW), transit authority, regional toll authority, state police
  • Toll authority currently operating one toll road in region with ETC (transponder)
  • Environmental clearance – FONSI expected
  • Design exceptions – submit request to FHWA prior to implementation

Slide 11

Project Characteristics

  • Cross section
    Graphic. Cross section of the 6-lane roadway. Six lanes with 10' shoulders. Each general purpose lane is 12'.
  • Access
    • Location and method of access undetermined
  • Enforcement
    • Subject to design and location

Slide 12

Project Characteristics

  • Estimated project costs
    • Capital costs: $ 10,000,000
    • Annual operating costs: $ 1,000,000
  • Bus volumes
  • Available funding
    • State is committed to contributing $ 8,000,000
  • Traffic and revenue studies - none
  • Revenue sharing potential – Regional toll authority
  • Possible funding partners - Regional toll authority and transit agency

Slide 13

Planning

  • Establish goals and objectives and clearly communicate a vision
  • Take advantage of opportunities
  • Maintain flexibility
  • Engage project partners and encourage agency cooperation

Slide 14

Planning Exercise

Screen Capture. Screen capture image from the workshop exercises file, planning section.

Slide 15

Operations

  • Develop a Concept of Operations to guide the process
  • Establish a minimum operating speed threshold of 45 mph for HOT operation
  • Select the appropriate user group to best optimize the added capacity and achieve stated objectives
  • Ensure that temporary use of the shoulder as a HOT lane is only deployed when needed

Slide 16

Operations

  • Establish operational procedures that ensure the safety of users and help maximize the potential benefits of using the shoulder during congested periods
  • Ensure operations integrate with existing systems
  • Determine if existing incident management protocol will be applicable to shoulder operations
  • European applications of shoulder use have typically been accompanied by one or more ATM strategies

Slide 17

Operations Exercise

Screen Capture. Screen capture image from the workshop exercises file, operations section.

Slide 18

Design

  • Ensure the safest design possible that provides adequate space for identified users and necessary maneuvers
  • Provide adequate space for emergency refuge and/or enforcement whenever possible
  • Provide clear information to users to ensure their comprehension of the facility and the specifics of operation

Slide 19

Design Exercise

Screen Capture. Screen capture image from the workshop exercises file, design section.

Slide 20

Funding and Finance

  • Consider any and all funding and/or financing mechanisms
  • Available assistance through federal programs
  • Stakeholders
  • Revenue sharing

Slide 21

Finance Exercise

Screen Capture. Screen capture image from the workshop exercises file, finance section.

Slide 22

Outreach

  • Identify project champions
  • Conduct market research and identify issues
  • Develop clear and concise messages
  • Communicate project goals
  • Continue from project development through operations
  • Create brand awareness

Slide 23

Outreach Exercise

Screen Capture. Screen capture image from the workshop exercises file, outreach section.

Slide 24

Breakout Group Reports

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