This paper presents some general studies of the I-80 and I-287 corridors, which are among the most heavily travelled roads in the state of New Jersey, USA. Both corridors are repeatedly congested during morning and afternoon peaks. The studies aimed to determine the feasibility of implementing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on the corridors. The study included the following stages: (1) evaluation of HOV conceptual viability, by testing a set of predetermined fatal flaw criteria against existing and forecast corridor characteristics; (2) alternative development, when HOV treatments are identified, to address the unique demands of a corridor; (3) development of recommended alternatives; and (4) plan adoption. (4) plan adoption. The HOV demand estimation techniques, which were used in Stage (1), were: (1) the Pivot Point Method (PPM); and (2) the Charles River Methodology (CRM). In Stage 2, the FREQ10 and FREQ11 models helped to develop much more detailed HOV demand estimates, and also provided additional operational results, such as estimation of queues and vehicle emissions. The models were used to assess quantitatively the merits of potential HOV candidate treatments. The authors considered the methods' results fairly good.
Abstract