Scott A Cooner

Safety Evaluation of Buffer-Separated High-Occupancy Vehicle Lanes in Texas

In Texas, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes are an integral part of urban mobility. Although an extensive system of permanent HOV lanes is planned for the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Texas Department of Transportation and Dallas Area Rapid Transit have implemented interim HOV lanes by retrofitting them into existing freeways. Safety is examined for Dallass buffer-separated concurrent-flow HOV lanes, which were implemented by lane widths being reduced and by the inside shoulder being converted to an HOV lane on 1-35 East and 1-635. Injury crash data from each corridor were analyzed on the basis of crash rates, frequency trends, and manually reviewing police reports. The analysis considered the impact of design elements, including buffer width, shoulder presence, and lane width. Operationally, the analysis considered the impact of speed differential between the HOV and general purpose lanes. This evaluation resulted in three key findings: (a) both corridors had an increase in crash rates after implementation of the HOV lane, (b) the increase in crashes is primarily focused on the HOV lane and the first adjacent general purpose lane, and (c) the increase in crashes is primarily attributed to the speed differential between the HOV and the general purpose lanes and the reduced HOV cross section. The recommendation, based on these findings, is to provide greater width for the total HOV cross section (inside shoulder + HOV lane + painted buffer) than that provided in the two interim corridors. An absolute minimum of 18 ft between the freeway barrier and the general purpose lanes may mitigate many types of crashes that occur because of the speed differential, with full inside shoulders being the desirable cross section.

Reconsidering freeway bottlenecks : Case studies of bottleneck removal projects in Texas

Implementing minor geometric and operational improvements on existing freeways to remove bottlenecks has the potential of achieving high benefits, yet it is not routinely done. Four case studies of bottleneck removal projects in Texas are presented in some detail with before-and-after evaluations of speeds, volumes, and crash histories. The case is made that many benefits may be realized for little cost. In addition, evaluations of nine other bottleneck removal projects are included in summary tables. Benefit-cost ratios as high as 400:1 have been found, with the lowest ratio being 9:1; costs ranged from

Field Studies of Operations and Conflicts in Drop-Off-Pick-Up Zones

8,000 to

COUNTERMEASURES FOR WRONG-WAY MOVEMENT ON FREEWAYS: OVERVIEW OF PROJECT ACTIVITIES AND FINDINGS

2.45 million. Injury crash rates were substantially lower after the bottleneck removal in almost all cases (average reduction of approximately 35%); however, an increase in crash rate was noted in one of the 13 cases.

UNDERSTANDING ROAD RAGE: EVALUATION OF PROMISING MITIGATION MEASURES

Primary schools frequently have queues that can lead to substantial impacts on the local transportation infrastructure. Queuing issues appear to be critical at primary schools, with substantial queues developing at both pick-up and drop-off times at most schools. Operational and design strategies vary substantially between schools, with some schools providing aggressive supervision and multiple queue lanes. This paper documents the field studies conducted at schools in Texas. These studies included examinations of school bus and vehicle ridership, conflicts, and queuing in parent pick-up and drop-off areas at 13 elementary and five middle schools. The studies were generally performed in both mornings and afternoons. The schools examined included sites in both large and small cities in Texas. The studies examined the effects of various operational and design characteristics on queue performance. Researchers documented the design characteristics of the queuing areas (i.e., number of lanes), operational strategies (i.e., presence of school personnel supervising the loading–unloading operation), and ridership (i.e., the number of students loaded into individual vehicles). The research team measured the performance of the queues through studies of the formation and dissipation of the queues at the observed schools and the incidence of conflicts between pedestrians and motor vehicles.