Departments of transportation are searching for ways to provide increased highway capacity without the need for new rights-of-way or major reconstruction. This paper presents a concept called flexible, efficient, express (FEE) lanes that would create dynamic shoulder travel lanes on limited access highways. The shoulder lane would only be used as a travel lane during peak periods, with active traffic management. FEE lanes would provide free service for buses and vanpools, but charge a variable toll to all other vehicles during peak periods. Alternative policies with regard to how many lanes are priced as FEE lanes are considered in this paper. The impacts of these alternatives on highway delay, user benefits, toll rates, revenues and greenhouse gas emission are analyzed. The paper also provides estimates of costs, benefits and revenue from implementation of each alternative in a prototypical large metropolitan area. On a 10-mile long, 6-lane freeway, it is estimated that the alternative that proposes four FEE lanes would provide the highest user benefits and toll revenues, while maximizing greenhouse gas reductions and minimizing toll rates. Although the FEE lane concept shows promise as a way to reduce highway congestion while providing a stream of revenue, safety impacts and other operational concerns have not yet been evaluated.
Samenvatting