PRIORITY LANES ON URBAN RADIAL FREEWAYS: AN ECONOMIC-SIMULATION MODEL

A simulation of the effects of opening a priority lane on a commuter-oriented freeway is carried out by combining a simple deterministic queuing model of traffic flow with a disaggregate model of modal choice. This permits iterative determination of a supply-demand equilibrium and a precise definition of the resulting benefits within the framework of cost-benefit analysis. By varying the assumptions parametrically, illustrative results for a wide variety of cases are obtained. The benefits are substantial for those cases where initial congestion is heavy. The combination of the rigorously derived objective function and the model of modal choice constitutes a proposed methodology for analyzing highway management policies that could be adapted for use in more detailed engineering studies of particular facilities. The results given here, although derived from a highly simplified model of traffic flow over a peak period, suggest the results that can be expected from such applications. /Author/