TY - JOUR
T1 - Safety benefits of converting HOV lanes to HOT lanes
T2 - Case study of the I-394 MnPASS
AU - Cao, Jason
AU - Xu, Zhiyi
AU - Huang, Arthur Yan
PY - 2012/2
Y1 - 2012/2
N2 - The study investigated whether the conversion of the I-394 HOV (high-occupancy-vehicle) lanes to HOT (high-occupancy-toll) lanes reduces the number of crashes on the mainline of I-394. Applying the Empirical Bayes method in the before-after data, it was found that the number of crashes was reduced by 5.3 percent. Using standard crash values recommended by Mn/DOT, it was found that the economic benefit of reduced crashes for 2006 and 2008 is about $5 million. This is substantial given that the tolls collected total about $1.2 million per year. After comparing the estimates derived from simple before-after approaches, it was found that these approaches tend to overstate the number of reduced crashes. Further, for the I-394 MnPASS, the HOV-to-HOT conversion was accompanied by designating access points. Therefore, it was unable to differentiate to what extent the safety benefits are attributable to the conversion.
AB - The study investigated whether the conversion of the I-394 HOV (high-occupancy-vehicle) lanes to HOT (high-occupancy-toll) lanes reduces the number of crashes on the mainline of I-394. Applying the Empirical Bayes method in the before-after data, it was found that the number of crashes was reduced by 5.3 percent. Using standard crash values recommended by Mn/DOT, it was found that the economic benefit of reduced crashes for 2006 and 2008 is about $5 million. This is substantial given that the tolls collected total about $1.2 million per year. After comparing the estimates derived from simple before-after approaches, it was found that these approaches tend to overstate the number of reduced crashes. Further, for the I-394 MnPASS, the HOV-to-HOT conversion was accompanied by designating access points. Therefore, it was unable to differentiate to what extent the safety benefits are attributable to the conversion.
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M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84870434382
SN - 0162-8178
VL - 82
SP - 32
EP - 37
JO - ITE Journal (Institute of Transportation Engineers)
JF - ITE Journal (Institute of Transportation Engineers)
IS - 2
ER -