EXAMINATION OF TRAFFIC MANAGEMENT IN THE ETC SYSTEM

The road authorities primarily responsible for the construction and management of toll highways in Japan are Japan Highway Public Corporation, Metropolitan Expressway Public Corporation, Hanshin Expressway Public Corporation, and Honshu-Shikoku Bridge Authority. These four public corporations operate a total of 7,300 kilometers of toll roads, including 6,000 kilometers of national expressway. The many roads now in the construction or planning stages are creating a nationwide network. Since 1995, the Ministry of Construction and the four public corporations mentioned above have been jointly developing a Japanese Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) system interoperable on all toll roads. Between June 1995 and March 1996, these organizations conducted joint research in conjunction with 10 private-sector groups to collect technical data. Based on the results, in November and December 1996 an experimental toll gate installed at the Public Works Research Institute of Ministry of Construction was used to test the traffic management methods to be implemented at ETC system-equipped toll gates. This report describes traffic management problems studied during the trials and effective measures devised to resolve them. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 490001.