HOV (HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE), HOT (HIGH OCCUPANCY TOLL) CONGESTION PRICING IN THE UNITED STATES

Metropolitan areas in the United States continue to experience major increases in traffic congestion on freeways and roadways. The negative effects of growing levels of traffic congestion are significant. Air pollution, environmental degradation and declining mobility represent just a few of the negative consequences. A variety of techniques are being used to address these concerns. Approaches include building additional roadways, widening existing facilities, developing new transit systems, implementing high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, and enhancing the management of the freeway system through the use of Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) and travel demand strategies. The use of congestion pricing is also being considered in some metropolitan areas, and a few projects have been implemented. This paper discusses the approaches being considered with priority pricing on HOV facilities in the United States and the experience to date with a few projects that have been implemented. The projects highlighted are the Route 91 Express Lanes in Los Angeles, California; the I-15 HOV lanes in San Diego, California; and the I-10 West (Katy) HOV lane in Houston, Texas. The first two projects are in operation, while the third is in the implementation phase. These three projects were initiated to meet different objectives and represent alternative approaches to the use of priority pricing. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 898010.