An Analytical Framework for Managed Lane Facility Performance Evaluation Xiaoyue Cathy Liu University of Washington To Be Presented at the Western ITE Annual Meeting in Santa Barbara, CA June 26th, 2012

Outline General Background Methodological Framework Cross-Weave Module Friction Module Summary 2

Project Overview – Why Managed Lanes? Congestion A total urban congestion cost of $101 billion and total delay hours of 4.8 billion hours in 2010 Vehicle Miles Traveled vs. Roadway Capacity Increase Limited Infrastructure Expansion Capability 3

Background NCHRP Project: Analysis of Managed Lanes on Freeway Facilities A methodological framework is needed for analyzing freeway facilities with ML and GP lanes operated parallelly Composition and behavior characteristics difference Interaction between the two lane groups 4

Managed Lane Characteristics 5 Operational Strategy: HOV vs. HOT Separation Type Barrier Buffer Stripe Image: I-394 MnPass WA SR 167 HOT Image: SR 91 Express Lanes

Managed Lane Access 6 The most common ML type is left-concurrent

Single vs. Multiple Lanes 7 Single ML Lane – Inability to pass slow lead vehicle

Single vs. Multiple Lanes 8 Two ML Lanes – Ability to pass slow lead vehicles

Types of Interaction Between GP and MLs Friction Effect - between Adjacent GP and Basic Segments Poorly-operating GP lanes will have an adverse effect on the operations of the adjacent ML due to their proximity Due to the proximity of GPL and ML traffic, increasing congestion levels on GPLs are proved to have an adverse effect on ML operations, well before the ML demand reaches breakdown levels This effect is particularly significant at single lane buffer-separated ML facilities

Frictional Effect 10

Types of Interaction Between GP and MLs Cross Weaving Effect – at ML On/Off Ramp Segments Cross-weaving flows between a GP lane ramp and ML access may affect GP capacity and speed

Components of the Proposed Method 12 Method builds upon HCM2010 Freeway Facilities Chapter But several changes are needed Developing managed lane segment types New speed-flow relationships in the Managed Lanes, including frictional impact of congestion levels in the GP lanes on ML operations Cross-Weave effects across GP lanes Implementation to occur in FREEVAL Computational Engine

Proposed Methodology

Segment Types for Speed-Flow Curves 14

Quantifying Frictional Effect 15

Quantifying Cross-Weave Effect

Results Analysis 17

Capacity Adjustment/Reduction Factor 18

CRF Regression 19 where CW is the cross-weave flow measured in vph, Lcw-min is the length from the ramp gore to the beginning of BOA measured in ft, and number of GP lanes ranging from 2 to 4

Computational Engine: FREEVAL-ML 20 Build on FREEVAL-2010 Allow analysis of parallel GP and ML facility with common lane groups Development of aggregated and comparative performance measures

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Summary A methodological framework is developed for analyzing freeway facilities with ML and GP lanes operated parallelly New modules incorporated in the analysis framework, such as friction module and cross-weave module are quantified via empirical research The computational engine is able to evaluate the parallel ML facilities and provide performance assessment to the users 22

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