Engage local operations, traffic control center and maintenance staff in the planning process for managed lanes and congestion pricing projects.

Lesson learned from a domestic scan of ten metropolitan areas

Date Posted
01/28/2014
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Identifier
2013-L00665

A Domestic Scan of Congestion Pricing and Managed Lanes

Summary Information

The FHWA sponsored a scan of selected Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and State Departments of Transportation (State DOTs) to determine how they are planning for congestion pricing and managed lanes. The scan was performed by conducting a survey of agencies that had been directly involved in consideration of these options in ten metropolitan areas:

  • Atlanta, Georgia
  • Dallas – Fort Worth, Texas
  • Los Angeles-Orange County, California
  • Kansas City, Missouri
  • Miami, Florida
  • Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota
  • Phoenix, Arizona
  • San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, California
  • Seattle, Washington
  • Washington, DC

There was considerable enthusiasm for the concept of congestion pricing and pricing of managed lanes among the agencies in the metropolitan areas surveyed. The number of studies, and in particular, the consideration of congestion pricing on a regional network basis suggest that interest in and acceptance of congestion pricing and managed lanes is growing.

Lessons Learned

During the planning process for managed lanes and congestion pricing projects:

  • Engage local operations, traffic control center and maintenance staff in the dialogue because they will be the people who have to operate the facility on a day-to-day basis once implemented. They can provide very practical input early in the process that will help to formulate a more successful system in the long run.
  • Develop partnerships among regional agencies and apply an integrated multi-modal corridor management approach to appropriately address mobility needs in planning for congestion pricing and managed lanes projects.
  • Plan for enforcement efforts to ensure the financial and political success of projects. High violation rates reduce revenue and undermine public and political support.
  • Prepare to address operational problems quickly and effectively when they occur, because a poor operating experience with a congestion pricing or managed lanes project can damage the credibility of the concept among the public and decision makers.
Goal Areas
System Engineering Elements

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