Express (HOT) Lanes and Carpool Lanes

Regional Express Lane Network

Updates

July 16, 2009
Passing a major milestone, Assembly Bill 744 (Torrico, D-Fremont) – which authorizes the creation of an 800-mile Express Lane Network on Bay Area freeways – was approved today by the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee. The bill now moves to the Senate Appropriations Committee, and if it passes, to the Senate floor.

April 28, 2009:
HOT Lanes Heat Up: Express Lane Bill Moves in Legislature

April 22, 2009:
MTC today adopted the long-range Transportation 2035 Plan, which commits to developing an 800-mile express lane network throughout the region. At the same time, the Commission adopted a framework to guide pending legislation authorizing a Bay Area Express Lane Network and voted to support the legislation.

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Planning

Bay Area highway congestion is the second-worst in the nation; regional travel is slow and unreliable. The carpool lane system, which has been under construction for over 30 years, is fragmented by gaps that can’t be closed for many decades due to lack of funds, making carpooling and transit less effective. In the course of developing the region’s long-range Transportation 2035 Plan, MTC/BATA, Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol and the county congestion management agencies pledged to work cooperatively to address these concerns by developing a regional express lane network. (See HOT Network Principles (PDF) adopted July 2008.)

The approach is to convert existing carpool lanes to express lanes and use the revenue generated to finance completion of the carpool/express lane system as well as other important transportation projects and transit operations in the express lane corridors.

Aims of the regional express network include:

• Complete funding and construction of 800-mile network of congestion-free lanes for carpools, buses and toll-payers decades earlier than possible with existing funds.
• Reduce congestion and emissions through earlier completion of the network.
• Provide a reliable, congestion-free transportation option.
• Increase time-savings for carpoolers and transit users by closing gaps in carpool network.

The initial segments of the express lane network are scheduled to open in 2010 on I-680 over the Sunol Grade, I-580 through the Tri-Valley, and in Santa Clara County on the SR 237/I-880 connector, Route 85 and US 101.

MTC and partner agencies have completed a series of technical studies of a regional network of express lanes. The Phase 1 and Phase 2 HOT Network Study, completed fall 2007, found a regional express lane network is feasible financially and operationally. It estimated network costs and revenues and outlined a series of technical and policy issues for further exploration. Further analysis by MTC suggested there may be ways to accelerate delivery of some portions of the express lane network and reduce costs through a “Rapid Delivery Design” approach that seeks to fit express lanes within existing right-of-way. Phase 3 of the study, completed in February 2009, further explored express lane design trade-offs. Phase 3 is intended to apply Caltrans District 4 design guidance to test how well express lane access concepts would work in specific corridors. These findings help add a higher level of accuracy to earlier network evaluations and cost estimates that were based on broader assumptions and did not account for specific site conditions along candidate corridors. These still represent planning-level estimates that will be further refined as projects proceed along the project development process.

For more information about this study, contact the project manager, Lisa Klein at lklein@mtc.ca.gov.