High Occupancy Lane Benefits
- 1. Why does the I-15 Corridor Improvement Project include high occupancy vehicle lanes?
- The central concept of the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane, or carpool lane, is to move more people—rather than more cars—and to offer a practical alternative to adding more general-purpose (or mixed flow) lanes. HOV lanes offer two kinds of incentives: a savings in travel time and a reliable and predictable travel time. Each vehicle that travels on an HOV lane must carry the minimum number of people designated for each lane (2 or 3). During congested periods, some HOV lanes carry almost half of the people carried on the entire freeway.
Please visit www.RCTC.org for more information on Carpool Lane Policies and FAQs.
- 2. Why would the I-15 Corridor Improvement Project include tolled express lanes?
- Tolled express lanes present drivers with more options by allowing single-occupancy vehicles or lower-occupancy vehicles (vehicles with a number of occupants lower than the posted vehicle occupancy restrictions) to use a high occupancy vehicle lane for a fee, while maintaining free travel for qualifying high occupancy vehicles.
Tolled express lanes also play a growing role in highway funding. If tolled express lanes are chosen for the I-15 Corridor Improvement Project, the tolls from the tolled express lanes will help pay for the construction and maintenance of these lanes.
As part of a response to increased travel demand and traffic congestion, tolled express lanes offer a key area-wide approach to help metropolitan areas address their requirements for improved mobility, safety, and productivity, while also being sensitive to environmental and quality of life issues.
The Federal Highway Administration supports tolled express lanes as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly option to help move people along congested urban and suburban routes.
- 3. What is the difference between a high occupancy vehicle lane and a tolled express lane?
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A high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) is defined as a motor vehicle with at least two or more persons, including carpools, vanpools, and buses. A tolled express lane can increase use of a lane and offer more choices to drivers by allowing vehicles that do not meet passenger occupancy requirements to gain access to HOV lanes by paying a toll.The Federal Highway Administration supports both high occupancy vehicle and tolled express lanes to increase throughput and to provide additional travel options for drivers.
- 4. Are high occupancy vehicle lanes really effective?
- Priority treatments for high occupancy vehicles (HOVs) have proven to be one of the most flexible, cost effective alternatives for increasing the person-moving capacity of congested metropolitan transportation systems. This "lane management" concept emphasizes person movement rather than traditional vehicle movement. It offers multi-person vehicles the opportunity to travel in reserved lanes that preserve higher operating speeds and more reliable travel times.
Because high occupancy vehicle (or carpool) lanes carry vehicles with a higher number of occupants, they may move significantly more people during congested periods, even when the number of vehicles that use the HOV lane is lower than on the adjoining general-purpose lanes. In general, carpoolers, vanpoolers, and transit users are the primary beneficiaries of high occupancy vehicle lanes.
- 5. What options will the I-15 Corridor Improvement Project offer?
- That will depend on further analysis as part of the environmental document process. Here are the options that might be part of the project.
Carpool Lanes Option
- Provides one carpool lane in each direction
- Encourages ride sharing
- Allows carpools, vanpools and buses to bypass congestion
Tolled Express Lanes Option
- Provides two tolled express lanes in each direction
- Allows carpools, vanpools, and buses with three or more occupants for free
- Allows vehicles with one or two occupants to pay for access
- Tolls vary with time of day to keep traffic volume within capacity of the two lanes so that the express lanes operate at freeway speeds at all times.
- Offers an option for quick, reliable travel time, no matter how congested general purpose lanes become
- Produces toll revenue used to build the I-15 Corridor Improvement Project