Lifting HOV/HOT Lane Eligibility and Shoulder Use Restrictions for Traffic Incident Management

This report presents an investigation of the possibility of lifting high occupancy vehicle/high occupancy toll (HOV/HOT) lane eligibility and shoulder use restrictions during major incidents on general-purpose (GP) lanes. Using traffic data from Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) Districts 4 and 6, the impacts of incidents of GP lanes on the operation of HOV/HOT lanes were investigated. A methodology was developed to determine the appropriateness of diverting the GP traffic to HOV/HOT lanes under different incident scenarios. The methodology is theoretically sound and can be easily implemented in a spreadsheet tool requiring only a few critical inputs. The project also reviewed the regulations in Florida concerning the operations of HOV/HOT lanes and concluded that there was no legal obstacle or barrier that prevents opening HOV/HOT lanes to the GP traffic. Consequently, a two-stage decision-making procedure was proposed to implement a diversion plan. The procedure takes advantage of the existing partnership between FDOT and Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) on incident management and should allow quick decision making and ensure the integrity and credibility of the diversion policy. Lastly, the feasibility of shoulder use for incident management as well as simultaneous use of other freeway management techniques such as variable speed limits and ramp metering were investigated.

• Record URL:
  • https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/research/reports/fdot-bdk77-977-23-rpt.pdf
• 
• Summary URL:
  • https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/research/reports/fdot-bdk77-977-23-sum.pdf
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Florida, Gainesville

  Transportation Research Center, P.O. Box 116580
  Gainesville, FL  United States  32611-6580

  Florida Department of Transportation

  605 Suwannee Street
  Tallahassee, FL  United States  32399-0450
• Authors:
  • Yin, Yafeng
  • Elefteriadou, Lily
  • Song, Ziqi
  • Shirmohammadi, Nima
  • Carrick, Grady
  • Kondyli, Alexandra
• Publication Date: 2013-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 125p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Decision making; General purpose lanes; High occupancy toll lanes; High occupancy vehicle lanes; Incident management; Ramp metering; Regulations; Road shoulders; Traffic diversion; Variable speed limits
• Geographic Terms: Florida
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; I73: Traffic Control;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01505704
• Record Type: Publication
• Contract Numbers: BDK77-977-23; UF Project 00104311
• Files: TRIS, ATRI, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jan 27 2014 11:27AM