Entrance Location Planning of HOV Lanes in Multi-lane Highway Considering System and HOV Lane State

Abstract The high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane is an effective traffic demand management that encourages carpooling. In this study, we examine entrance location planning of HOV lanes. A highway commuting system containing HOV lanes is proposed. Commuters make travel choices based on the principle of minimum commuting time, i.e., the system is in the user equilibrium state. By planning the HOV lanes’ entrance location, the manager indirectly influences the commuters’ travel choices, thus achieving the predetermined management goals. In this study, an optimization model is developed where the decision variable is the entrance location of the HOV lane, and the conditional constraint of user equilibrium is satisfied. The objective function is a weighted average of a system state indicator and an HOV lane state one. Numerical examples show that the proposed method solves the location planning problem of the HOV lane entrance. The quantitative results reveal that the system congestion is relieved when the HOV lane entrance is close to the city center, and the traffic condition of the HOV lane is improved when the entrance is close to the city’s edge.