Quantifying the benefits of high-occupancy vehicle facilities using automatic vehicle identification technology. Research report

This report examines the benefits of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in three major freeway corridors in Houston, Texas: the Katy (I-10), Northwest (US 290), North (I-45) Freeways. The analyses described in this report used eight months of travel time data (April through November 1994) available through Houston`s automatic vehicle identification (AVI) traffic monitoring system. The travel time data were used to quantify travel time savings and reliability benefits of the HOV lanes relative to the freeway general-purpose lanes. The travel time data were also used to calibrate a macroscopic freeway simulation model for comparing an HOV lane alternative to other transportation improvements. Various measures of effectiveness, like person delay, fuel consumption, and mobile source emissions, were used to compare alternative improvements.