Parking Tech Helping Big Cities Ease Congestion

Traffic congestion is a seemingly perpetual problem. Not only does it cause anxiety among drivers and pedestrians, it burns extra fossil fuels and generates heavy carbon emissions. It’s also financially burdensome, costing citizens $115 billion in extra gas and lost time, according to the 2010 Annual Urban Mobility Report from the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University.

Solving traffic congestion often involves enormous cost — frequently funded by bond measures — and construction conditions that temporarily make the problems even worse. The recent economic recession took some drivers off the road, but as the sluggish recovery progresses, America’s localities will face new traffic slowdowns, according to the report.

Could IT play a part in the cure? Sure. Some projects address downtown traffic while others focus on freeway commutes — but many sources say technology is no silver bullet for reducing traffic congestion. Complete solutions typically involve widening highways and incentivizing public transit use. Still, a sampling of what’s already in the works could help CIOs determine which undertakings would be worth their efforts.

Selling Speed

Given that carpool lanes tend to be underutilized, an increasingly popular option is to let single drivers pay to use those lanes. The approach involves converting carpool lanes into high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes.

The goal is to set prices low enough to entice drivers to purchase access, but high enough to prevent too many from doing so. HOT lanes typically charge by the mile, which is tracked by a transponder the driver purchases. The transponder charges the driver’s account based on where that driver enters and exits the HOT lane. Because there are only certain spots at which a driver can enter or exit, sensors work with a transponder in the car to record these points. The HOT lanes system then calculates how far the driver traveled in the lane. 

HOT lanes are usually implemented by state transportation agencies, but in California — where San Francisco, Orange County and San Diego have them — it’s common for local transit agencies to deploy them, said Stephanie Wiggins (photo below), executive officer of the Congestion Reduction Initiative at the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro).

In fact, Metro recently won a $210.6 million federal grant to implement a congestion pilot program, much of which will involve deploying HOT lanes on sections of interstates 10 and 110. Drivers in those lanes will use a transponder to self-identify as one of three types of vehicles: a three-or-more occupancy vehicle, a vehicle with two passengers or a single-occupant vehicle. The device will generate a color-coded signal indicating the type of vehicle, which is visible only to handheld devices used by California Highway Patrol officers. If a single-occupant vehicle is in the HOT lane and not emitting the right color, officers will know to take action. The same applies to vehicles carrying two passengers during times of the day when HOT lane fees apply to them. Only vehicles with three or more passengers will get free access to the lanes at all times.
 

Metro hopes directing cars to the HOT lanes will free capacity and accelerate traffic in regular lanes. Nearby Orange County opened 10 miles of HOT lane on Route 91 in 1995. During peak traffic times, the special express lane diverts 3,200 to 3,400 vehicles per hour from general purpose lanes,according to the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA).

Kirk Avila, general manager and treasurer of OCTA, said diverting vehicles into HOT lanes should, in theory, speed up traffic in all lanes. However, he couldn’t confirm that. What he knew for sure, based on survey data OCTA collects from many of the 114,000 Orange County express lanes drivers, was that the express lanes reduce travel times for people who drive in them.

“On average, they tell us they save 30 to 45 minutes,” Avila said.

The HOT lanes are most successful when there’s congestion in the general purpose lanes because people won’t pay to use the faster lanes if general traffic is moving.

Those familiar with the history of Route 91’s express lanes know that all too well. The lanes were originally built and leased from the California Department of Transportation by a consortium of private companies called the California Private Transportation Co.

The company’s contract featured a non-compete clause that prevented any capacity improvements to the general purpose lanes. This was to keep the lanes congested and ensure the profitability of the express lanes. The clause ignited controversy and generated a lawsuit that ultimately prompted OCTA to purchase the express lanes from the state in 2003. OCTA took over management of the lanes and used some of the revenue they generated to build a six-mile general purpose auxiliary lane in the eastbound direction.