Vehicle Occupancy, Vehicle and Person Throughput, and Carpooling Demographics of SRTA’s Managed Lane Projects
The Georgia Tech team will update and expand the vehicle occupancy, vehicle throughput, and person throughput study conducted for the State of Georgia from 2010-2013. The original study examined the effects of the I-85 HOV to HOT conversion project on occupancy and throughput. The new assessment will cover the extension of the I-85 HOT lanes (I-85 Extension) and the new reversible Northwest Corridor (NWC) express lanes, which are both opening in 2018, as well as the reversible I-75 South Metro express lanes (I-75 S) that opened in 2017.
I-85 Express Lane Commute Survey
This goal of this study witch is organizing by Georgia Institute of Technology is to identify whether the commuters changed their commute from home to work after the Express Lanes opened on I-85 on October 1, 2011. Particularly, the impact of the I-85 HOV-to-HOT conversion on carpoolers travel behavior is the point of interest. The results of this study will eventually assist researchers and decision makers to evaluate I-85 Express Lanes and better plan for the future.
I-85 HOV-to-HOT Conversion
Traffic congestion is one of the most challenging aspects to overcome when there is not space just to add more lanes. On the current HOV lanes on I-85, congestion is consistent with the general purpose lanes; but the implementation of new HOT (High Occupancy Toll) Lanes should alleviate that congestion in the HOT lane and provide a reliable trip time through the corridor. In the new HOT lane, vehicles with three or more occupants can ride for free while vehicles with one or two occupants can pay a toll to use the lane. Variable pricing will be used based off demand and capacity of the lane to provide a reliable trip time throughout the day.
