Congested freeways are often located in urban areas with constrained environments and/or rights-of-way where significant widening of the roadway is not practical due to adjacent developments and land use, physical constraints, along with limited availability of funding. Among the strategies for increasing freeway capacity in such constrained environments — and thereby reducing congestion and improving operations — is to add a travel lane within the existing roadway footprint by reducing the widths of the existing lanes and/or shoulders. The additional lane may be utilized by all traffic at all times, as a special use or managed lane that is open only to specific types of vehicles or movements (e.g., High Occupancy Toll (HOT) lane, exit only lane), or only during selected times of the day and/or when congestion warrants opening the lane (e.g., temporary shoulder use). Narrow lanes and shoulders may be applied to add capacity on the freeway mainline and in interchange areas including ramps. This primer provides information to policy makers, transportation agency managers, designers and operators on the use of narrow lanes and narrow shoulders to improve capacity within an existing roadway footprint. Much of the information contained in the primer is presented in the broader context of both Performance Based Planning and Programming (PBPP) and Performance — Based Practical Design (PBPD). Primer contents include case studies on the use of narrow lanes, issues and approaches for analysing the operational and safety impacts of narrow lanes and narrow shoulders, and the role of transportation systems management and operations (TSMO) in support of narrow lanes operations. (Author/publisher)
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