Adaptation Strategies for Managing Recurring Congestion—Adding New Capacity - Road Traffic Congestion - page 254

17.3.1.3 Value Pricing/Express Toll Lanes

This strategy is typically applied in corridors with high traf c congestion. It consists

of creating additional lane (s) capacity only for those vehicles that pay a fee. The fee
is set to vary to maintain a desired traf c speed.

17.3.1.4 Effects

HOV, HOT, and Express Toll lanes can be effective strategies in highly congested
corridors where other means of congestion relief are not available. While they
might slightly reduce congestion on the general use lanes, they are effective in
reducing the negative impacts of congestion for time-sensitive trips and for those
travelers who value travel time reliability.
The study by the Institute of Transportation Engineers [ 18 ] reported travel time
savings from HOV applications ranging from less than 5 to 24 min, with savings
rates ranging from 0.4 to 3.5 min per mile. As shown in Fig. 17.13 , these values
vary by location and length of the HOV lane.

Fig. 17.13 Minutes saved using the HOV lane. Source Reference [ 18 ], Fig. 2.10