Evaluation of the effect of MnPASS lane design on mobility and safety : final report.

Details

• Creators:
  Stanitsas, Panagiotis ; Hourdos, John ; Zitzow, Stephen
• Corporate Creators:
  Minnesota Traffic Observatory ; University of Minnesota. Dept. of Civil Engineering
• Corporate Contributors:
  Minnesota. Dept. of Transportation. Research Services & Library
• Subject/TRT Terms:
  • High occupancy toll lanes
  • High occupancy vehicle lanes
  • General purpose lanes
  • Managed lanes
  • Lane distribution
  • Traffic congestion
• Publication/ Report Number:
  MN/RC 2014-23
• Resource Type:
  Tech Report
• Geographical Coverage:
  United States ; Minnesota
• Corporate Publisher:
  Minnesota. Dept. of Transportation. Research Services & Library
• Abstract:
  Dynamically priced High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes have been recently added to the traffic operations arsenal in ; an attempt to preserve infrastructure investment in the future by maintaining a control on demand. This study ; focuses on the operational and design features of HOT lanes. HOT lanes’ mobility and safety are contingent on the ; design of zones (“gates”) that drivers use to merge in or out of the facility. Existing methodologies for the design of ; access zones are limited to engineering judgment or studies that take into consideration undersized amount of ; observations. Case in point is the fact that the design philosophes between the two HOT facilities in Minnesota are ; diametrically opposed. Specifically, the I-394 freeway, the first dynamically priced HOT lane, was designed with a ; closed access philosophy, meaning that for the greater length of the roadway access to the HOT lane is restricted ; with only specific short-length sections where access is allowed. In contrast I-35W, the second HOT corridor, was ; designed with an open access philosophy where lane changes between the HOT and the GPLs are allowed ; everywhere except for a few specific locations. This contradiction generated questions as to effect each case has on ; safety and mobility. This study presents an assessment of safety and mobility on the two facilities as they operate ; today and highlights the issues present on either design. In addition, two design tools were developed, the first ; assisting in the optimal design of access zones based on traffic measurements, and the second allowing the ; assessment of the influence congested General Purpose Lanes can have on the mobility and safety of the HOT ; under different traffic conditions and utilization due to changes in pricing strategy.
  More +
• Format:
  PDF
• Funding:
  CTS Project #2011094 ; (C) 89261 (WO) 247
• Download URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/32162/dot_32162_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 9.14 MB]
• Collection(s):
  US Transportation Collection
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha256:76defcb94b84329ea0313495dc332543a23f39b9a05000576a0abd7c88b705b0