High Occupancy Vehicle Lane Management System: Amendment A

Providing single occupant hybrid vehicles (SOHV) access to high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes creates a significant incentive for consumers to choose these low emission vehicles, thus reducing the environmental impact of traffic flow. However, there is an additional cost with such a policy in the form of increased congestion in the HOV facility and related regulatory compliance. Federal law mandates that single occupant hybrid vehicles (SOHV) be prohibited from using HOV lanes if speed performance falls below a minimum threshold. Specifically, traffic must maintain an average speed of at least 45 mph during 90% of peak hours over a 180-day period. This project is aimed at determining the impact of removing SOHVs from the HOV lane. It documents high-level design of a basic HOV lane management system necessary for controlling SOHV access to HOV facilities. Through simulation studies, it provides an analysis of the impact and description of a system architecture to implement a message system to convey to drivers the access rules to HOV lane.