Potential Use of Puget Sound HOV Lanes by General Purpose Vehicles in Off-PeakHours: A Summary Paper

摘要

Off-peak traffic volumes in the Puget Sound region of Washington State areincreasing, and public concern about congestion during non-commute periods has caused WSDOT to re-examine the current policy of restricting HOV lanes to transit vehicles and carpools 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. In many parts of the country, HOV lanes are open to general traffic during non-peak hours. This report examines the trade-offs that a change in weekend HOV lane usage would involve. The basic issues that are examined include the following: What congestion relief benefits would result; Would these changes have adverse impacts on HOV formation and/or HOV lane compliance rates; Would the weekend use of HOV lanes by general purpose vehicles create safety concerns; Would highway and transit operational problems be created; and What would be the monetary impacts of changing weekend HOV lane usage. Supported by a variety of performance graphics and statistics, the report concludes that no improvement in mobility would be obtained by relaxing the current Puget Sound HOV lane operating restrictions to allow off-peak use of the HOV lanes by general purpose traffic.