Assessing HOV lane Utilization and Occupancy rates in Tennessee

This study evaluated the performance of existing HOV lanes in Tennessee as travel-time incentives for promoting carpooling and reducing congestion. While the overall person-moving capacity of the HOV lanes may be slightly higher than the general-purpose lanes, the travel–time incentives for legitimate HOV lanes users in Tennessee has been severely diminished by violators. The study conducted a literature review on HOV lane occupancy detection technologies which could be utilized to assist in managing both HOV corridors and evaluation of performance strategies to address high violation rates. Furthermore, the study evaluated HOV lane utilization rates and HOV lane occupancy violation rates in the state. Estimating utilization rate as the percentage of vehicles that use the HOV lane compared to all other General Purpose (GP) lanes, the paper found that the average HOV lanes utilization in Tennessee is 23% and the HOV lane violation rate is about 84%. The HOV lane occupancy violation rates was evaluated by taking the percentage of Single Occupancy vehicles (SOVs) to the total vehicles using HOV lane during study AM and PM peak hours. It was found that only 15% to 20% of vehicles using HOV lanes in Tennessee are those with 2+ occupancy as required by law, the remaining 80% to 85% are single occupancy vehicles (SOVs). Findings are expected to support operational goals of transportation agencies with HOV systems and inform potential improvement strategies.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AHB35 Standing Committee on Managed Lanes.
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Chimba, Deo
  • Soloka, Kevin
  • Camp, Janey
  • Mulligan, Keefe
  • Pellegrino, Stefano
  • Freeze, Brad
  • Oldham, Jason
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 98th Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2019-1-13 to 2019-1-17
• Date: 2019

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 14p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Detection and identification technologies; Evaluation and assessment; High occupancy vehicle lanes; Lane occupancy; Vehicle occupancy
• Geographic Terms: Tennessee
• Subject Areas: Highways; Operations and Traffic Management;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01697723
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 19-00077
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Mar 1 2019 3:51PM