WEEKEND FREEWAY PERFORMANCE AND THE USE OF HOV LANES ON WEEKENDS

Weekend traffic volumes in the Puget Sound region of Washington State are increasing, and public concern about congestion during non-commute periods has caused the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) to re-examine the current policy of restricting high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to transit vehicles and carpools 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. In many parts of the country, HOV lanes are open to general traffic during non-peak hours. Should WSDOT adopt this less restrictive lane use policy? This report examines the tradeoffs that a change in weekend HOV lane usage would involve. The basic issues that are examined include the following: What congestion relief benefits would result? Would these changes have adverse impacts on HOV formation and/or HOV lane compliance rates? Would highway and transit operational problems be created? Would the weekend use of HOV lanes by general purpose vehicles create safety concerns? What would be the monetary impacts of changing weekend HOV lane usage? Supported by a variety of performance graphics and statistics, the report concludes that no improvement in mobility would be obtained by relaxing the current Puget Sound HOV lane operating restrictions to allow weekend use of the HOV lanes by general purpose traffic.

• Record URL:
  http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/research/reports/fullreports/488.1.pdf
• 
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/3816
• Corporate Authors:

  Washington State Transportation Center

  University of Washington, 1107 NE 45th Street, Suite 535
  Seattle, WA  United States  98105

  Washington State Department of Transportation

  Transportation Building, 310 Maple Park Avenue SE, P.O. Box 47300
  Olympia, WA  United States  98504-7300

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Hallenbeck, M E
  • Ishimaru, J M
  • Nee, J
• Publication Date: 2000-5

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: Figures;
• Pagination: 45 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Compliance; Economic impacts; High occupancy vehicle lanes; Impacts; Mobility; Policy; Traffic congestion; Traffic safety; Weekends
• Geographic Terms: Puget Sound Region
• Subject Areas: Economics; Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Policy; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00800231
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: WA-RD 488.1,, Interim Report
• Contract Numbers: T1803, Task 19
• Files: NTL, TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Oct 18 2000 12:00AM