Use of Narrow Lanes and Narrow Shoulders on Freeways: A Primer on Experiences, Current Practice, and Implementation Considerations

Congested freeways are often located in urban areas with constrained environments and/or rights-of-way where significant widening of the roadway is not practical due to adjacent developments and land use, physical constraints, along with limited availability of funding. Among the strategies for increasing freeway capacity in such constrained environments – and thereby reducing congestion and improving operations – is to add a travel lane within the existing roadway footprint by reducing the widths of the existing lanes and/or shoulders. The additional lane may be utilized by all traffic at all times, as a special use or managed lane that is open only to specific types of vehicles or movements (e.g., High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane, exit only lane), or only during selected times of the day and/or when congestion warrants opening the lane (e.g., temporary shoulder use). Narrow lanes and shoulders may be applied to add capacity on the freeway mainline and in interchange areas including ramps. This primer provides information to policy makers, transportation agency managers, designers and operators on the use of narrow lanes and narrow shoulders to improve capacity within an existing roadway footprint. Much of the information contained in the primer is presented in the broader context of both Performance Based Planning and Programming (PBPP) and Performance – Based Practical Design (PBPD). Primer contents include case studies on the use of narrow lanes, issues and approaches for analyzing the operational and safety impacts of narrow lanes and narrow shoulders, and the role of transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) in support of narrow lanes operations.

• Record URL:
  http://www.ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/fhwahop16060/fhwahop16060.pdf
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/42439
• Corporate Authors:

  CH2M HILL

  Washington, DC  United States 

  Kittelson & Associates, Incorporated

  Washington, DC  United States 

  Federal Highway Administration

  Office of Operations, 1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Neudorff, L
  • Jenior, P
  • Dowling, R
  • Nevers, B
• Publication Date: 2016-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 60p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Freeways; Highway capacity; Highway operations; Highway safety; Implementation; Road shoulders; State of the practice; Traffic lanes; Transportation system management; Urban areas; Width
• Subject Areas: Design; Highways; Operations and Traffic Management; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01610902
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: FHWA HOP-16-060, 18112
• Contract Numbers: DTFH61-12-D-00049/5001
• Files: NTL, TRIS, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Sep 21 2016 2:40PM