High-occupancy Toll Lane
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A high-occupancy toll lane (or HOT lane) is a type of
traffic lane In road transport, a lane is part of a roadway that is designated to be used by a single line of vehicles to control and guide drivers and reduce traffic conflicts. Most public roads (highways) have at least two lanes, one for traffic in each ...
or
roadway A carriageway (British English) or roadway (North American English) consists of a width of road on which a vehicle is not restricted by any physical barriers or separation to move laterally. A carriageway generally consists of a number of tra ...
that is available to
high-occupancy vehicle A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers, i ...
s and other exempt vehicles without charge; other vehicles are required to pay a variable fee that is adjusted in response to demand. Unlike
toll road A toll road, also known as a turnpike or tollway, is a public or private road (almost always a controlled-access highway in the present day) for which a fee (or ''toll'') is assessed for passage. It is a form of road pricing typically implemented ...
s, drivers have an option to use general purpose lanes, on which a fee is not charged. Express toll lanes, which are less common, operate along similar lines, but do not exempt high-occupancy vehicles.


History

The HOT concept developed from
high-occupancy vehicle lane A high-occupancy vehicle lane (also known as an HOV lane, carpool lane, diamond lane, 2+ lane, and transit lane or T2 or T3 lanes) is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers, i ...
(HOV) systems in order to increase use of the available capacity, as it was found that HOV lanes were underutilized compared to general purpose lanes. Most implementations are currently in the United States. The first practical implementation was
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
's formerly private toll
91 Express Lanes State Route 91 (SR 91) is a major east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves several regions of the Greater Los Angeles urban area. A freeway throughout its entire length, it officially runs from Vermont Avenue ...
, in
Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, a ...
, in 1995, followed in 1996 by
Interstate 15 Interstate 15 (I-15) is a major Interstate Highway System, Interstate Highway in the western United States, running through Southern California and the Intermountain West. I-15 begins near the Mexico–United States border, Mexican border i ...
in northern
San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...
. According to the
Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...
Transportation Institute, there were 294 corridor-miles of HOT/Express lanes in operation in the United States and 163 corridor-miles under construction. The first HOT lane implementation in Canada was along the
Queen Elizabeth Way The Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario linking Toronto with the Niagara Peninsula and Buffalo, New York. The freeway begins at the Peace Bridge in Fort Erie and travels around the western ...
(QEW) freeway in
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. Existing high-occupancy vehicle lanes were redesignated as HOT lanes for a stretch of the QEW between Oakville and
Burlington Burlington may refer to: Places Canada Geography * Burlington, Newfoundland and Labrador * Burlington, Nova Scotia * Burlington, Ontario, the most populous city with the name "Burlington" * Burlington, Prince Edward Island * Burlington Bay, no ...
. The initial system consisted of $180 permits valid for three months, though HOT lanes with electronic tolling infrastructure were announced as part of forthcoming expansions to
Ontario Highway 427 King's Highway 427 (pronounced "four twenty-seven"), also known as Highway 427 and colloquially as the 427, is a 400-series highway in the Canadian province of Ontario that runs from the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) and Gardiner Expressway in Toron ...
.


Design

Some systems are reversible, operating in one direction during the morning commute and in the reverse direction during the evening commute. The toll is typically collected using electronic toll collection systems,
automatic number plate recognition Automatic number-plate recognition (ANPR; see also #Other names, other names below) is a technology that uses optical character recognition on images to read vehicle registration plates to create vehicle location data. It can use existing close ...
, or at staffed toll booths. Exempt vehicles typically include those with at least two, three or four occupants, those that use approved alternative fuels, motorcycles, transit vehicles and emergency vehicles. The fee, which is displayed prominently at entry points to the lanes, is adjusted in response to demand to regulate the traffic volume and thereby provided a guaranteed minimum traffic speed and
level of service Level of service may refer to: * Levels of service in asset management * Level of service (transportation) in transportation and traffic * Something agreed on in a Service-level agreement A service-level agreement (SLA) is a commitment between a ...
. The Los Angeles
Metro ExpressLanes The Metro ExpressLanes project is a transport project in Los Angeles County, California that debuted in 2012 to "improve traffic flow and provide enhanced travel options on I-10 and I-110 in Los Angeles County". It includes a range of infrastructu ...
HOT system requires vehicles to be fitted with manually "switchable" transponders where the driver selects the number of occupants, based on which the appropriate fee is charged.
California Highway Patrol The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is a state law enforcement agency of the U.S. state of California. The CHP has primary patrol jurisdiction over all California highways and roads and streets outside city limits, and can exercise law enfor ...
officers have in-vehicle devices which display the declared occupancy of a vehicle, which they can verify visually and
cite A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of ...
any driver(s) with fewer occupants than declared (and tolled for). The new system proved itself to be highly effective in reducing the rate of lane-use violations, with it falling to 40-50% of the violation rates of other comparable
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
highways, from more than 20-25% (nearly one out of four or five) to just 10% (one in ten). Other transportation officials in California took note of this, subsequently leading to the
Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
officials of
Alameda County Alameda County ( ) is a List of counties in California, county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 1,682,353, making it the 7th-most populous county in the state and List ...
to adopt a similar system for the (then) planned Interstate 580.


Funding and construction

Implementation of these systems can be prohibitively expensive, due to the initial construction required—particularly with regard to providing access to and from the express toll lanes at interchanges. However, the long-term benefits—the decrease in delay to able motorists and increased funding for the transportation agency—may outweigh the costs. To offset costs of construction, many transportation agencies lease public roads to a private institution. As a result, construction may be partially or fully funded by the private institution, which receives all of the income from tolling for a specified period.About I-495 HOT Lanes
Retrieved August 31, 2009


Criticism

Because HOT lanes and ETLs are often constructed within the existing road space, they are criticized as being an
environmental tax An environmental tax, ecotax (short for ecological taxation), or green tax is a tax levied on activities which are considered to be harmful to the environment and is intended to promote environmentally friendly activities via economic incentives. ...
or "
Lexus is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Toyota. The Lexus brand is marketed in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide and is Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. It has ranked among the 10 largest Japanese ...
lanes" solely beneficial to higher-income individuals, since one toll rate is charged regardless of socioeconomic status and the
working poor The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain und ...
thus suffer greater financial burden, although some states offer tax deductions or rebates to low income individuals for toll payments. Supporters of HOT lanes counter with the fact that because HOT lanes encourage the use of public transit and ride sharing, they reduce transportation demands and provide a benefit for all. However, current American public transportation is still viewed and characterized as a form of welfare, leading to paradoxical expenses as public tax dollars across the US bear high subsidies for transit services, while delivering low ridership levels, fewer service hours than other major countries with public transit systems, and longer wait times between trip destinations. Furthermore, HOT lanes have demonstrated no guarantees in eliminating traffic congestion, bringing into question, their fundamental usefulness aside from raising funds for private institutions and local governments.


Examples


High Occupancy Toll Lanes (HOT lanes)

*
Metro ExpressLanes The Metro ExpressLanes project is a transport project in Los Angeles County, California that debuted in 2012 to "improve traffic flow and provide enhanced travel options on I-10 and I-110 in Los Angeles County". It includes a range of infrastructu ...
in California * Virginia HOT lanes *
Interstate 405 (Washington) Interstate 405 (I-405) is a north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway serving the Seattle region of Washington, United States. It bypasses Seattle east of Lake Washington, traveling through the Eastside area of King and Snohomish coun ...
*
Washington State Route 167 State Route 167 (SR 167) is a state highway in the Seattle metropolitan area of Washington state. It is commonly known as the Valley Freeway and serves the Green River Valley from Tacoma to Renton, primarily as a four-lane freeway. ...
*
California State Route 237 State Route 237 (SR 237) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that runs from El Camino Real ( SR 82) in Mountain View to Interstate 680 in Milpitas. Known as the Southbay Freeway for most of its length, SR 237 runs south of the Sa ...
from Mathilda Avenue to Interstate 880 *
Interstate 15 in California Route 15, consisting of the contiguous segments of State Route 15 (SR 15) and Interstate 15 (I-15), is a major north–south state highway and Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of California California is a U.S. s ...
, various locations *
Interstate 580 in California Interstate 580 (I-580) is an approximately east–west auxiliary Interstate Highway in Northern California. The heavily traveled spur route of I-80 runs from US Route 101 (US 101) in San Rafael in the San Francisco Bay Area t ...
approaching
Altamont Pass Altamont Pass, formerly Livermore Pass, is a low mountain pass in the Diablo Range of Northern California between Livermore in the Livermore Valley and Tracy in the San Joaquin Valley. The name is actually applied to two distinct but nearby ...
* Interstate 680 in California, various locations *
Interstate 77 in North Carolina Interstate 77 (I-77) is a part of the Interstate Highway System that runs from Columbia, South Carolina, to Cleveland, Ohio. In North Carolina, I-77 enters the state at Charlotte, from South Carolina. Crossing the Piedmont, it connects wi ...
near downtown
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
*
91 Express Lanes State Route 91 (SR 91) is a major east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California that serves several regions of the Greater Los Angeles urban area. A freeway throughout its entire length, it officially runs from Vermont Avenue ...
in California


Express Toll Lanes (Express lanes)

*
Northwest Corridor Express Lanes The Northwest Corridor Express Lanes (formerly Northwest Corridor HOV/BRT) and locally known as the Tollercoaster, is a completed Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) project which has put Peach Pass-only toll lanes along Interstate  ...
(
Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
and
Interstate 575 Interstate 575 (I-575) is an auxiliary Interstate Highway in the United States, which branches off I-75 in Kennesaw and connects the Atlanta metropolitan area with the North Georgia mountains, extending . I-575 is also the unsigned State ...
) in Georgia. (No vehicles including HOV 3+ are exempt from the toll.) *
South Metro Express Lanes The South Metro Express Lanes is a completed Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) project which has put Peach Pass-only reversible toll lanes along the medians of Interstate 75 (I-75) and I-675 in the southern suburbs of the Atlan ...
(Interstate 75 and Interstate 675) in Georgia. (No vehicles including HOV 3+ are exempt from the toll.) *
North Tarrant Express The North Tarrant Express (NTE) project is a total highway reconstruction of the Interstate 820 (I-820) and State Highway 121/ State Highway 183 (SH 121/SH 183, Airport Freeway) corridor between I-35W and Industrial ...
in Fort Worth, Texas. Includes Interstate 35W, Interstate 820, State Highway 183, and State Highway 121 (During rush hour, vehicles including HOV 2+ are given a 50% discount) *
Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...
Katy Tollway in Houston, Texas (Vehicles including HOV 2+ are only exempt from the toll during rush hour periods) *
Interstate 95 in Maryland Interstate 95 (I-95) is an Interstate Highway running along the East Coast of the United States from Miami, Florida, north to the Canadian border in Houlton, Maine. In Maryland, the route is a major highway that runs diagonally from southwest ...
Between the I-895 merge and just north of MD 43 in White Marsh


See also

*
Road space rationing Road space rationing, also known as alternate-day travel, driving restriction and no-drive days ( es, restricción vehicular; pt, rodízio veicular; french: circulation alternée), is a travel demand management strategy aimed to reduce the ne ...
* Transportation demand management * List of toll roads in the United States *
Feebate Feebate is a portmanteau of "fee" and "rebate". A feebate program is a self-financing system of fees and rebates that are used to shift the costs of externalities produced by the private expropriation, fraudulent abstraction, or outright destructi ...


References


External links

*
Various HOT lane articles
on website dedicated to road pricing * * - includes evaluation of 21 HOT lane projects in the U.S. * * * {{Road types Electronic toll collection Intelligent transportation systems Road congestion charge schemes Toll (fee) Road infrastructure