Feasibility and Guidelines for Applying Managed Lane Strategies to Ramps; Project summary

摘要

Managed lanes operational strategies can maximize existing capacity, manage demand, offer choices, improve safety, and generate revenue. The key to successfully operating managed lanes is the ability to alter the operations of the lanes in ways that keep traffi c fl owing. That ability to alter operations provides flexibility not only in the day-to-day operations of the lanes but in situations where isolated incidents, such as major accidents, call for the lanes to be open to more or different user groups. One of the areas for potentially improving overall freeway performance is at ramp locations. Current ramp treatments address only point demand. The concept of managed ramps would be to apply any of the myriad of managed lanes operational strategies along a corridor to optimize the use of the overall freeway facility. The goal of this research was to help the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) assess under what conditions managed ramps should be considered, to assess the impacts and benefi ts of managed ramps, and to develop general guidelines and best practices for operating managed ramps.