HOT Lanes A Tool, Not A Panacea

Virginia has a unique opportunity to use High Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes to provide traffic-weary commuters with less congestion and more mass transit options, according to a new report by the Breakthrough Technologies Institute and Environmental Defense.   But these benefits must be managed properly to offset the potential negative impacts of HOT Lanes, such as increased congestion on local roads, air pollution, sprawl and inequity.  The report is available at www.gobrt.org and www.environmentaldefense.org/go/dctraffic.

HOT Lanes promise to keep some high speed lanes uncongested by limiting them to buses and carpools, while allowing others to drive on them if they pay a toll, which is set higher in peak hours.  A portion of the toll revenues would be invested in new express bus or bus rapid transit (BRT) services, providing residents with an inexpensive alternative to driving. 

The new report focuses upon HOT lane proposals now being considered for the Capital Beltway and I-95/395 south of Washington, and subject to a September 21st public hearing in Woodbridge, Virginia. It found that a BRT system operating on HOT lanes in Northern Virginia could attract 23,000 new daily transit riders, with 80 percent of new transit commuters drawn from single occupant vehicles.  The report offers concepts for serving this market, including concepts for passenger stations, vehicles, and system operations.  The report also suggests ways that current proposal should be improved, such as providing guaranteed funding for new transit services and ensuring that land use planning is conducted in a way that supports this investment. 

“Combining HOT lanes with BRT can be a win-win,” said Bill Vincent with the Breakthrough Technologies Institute.  “We need to start serious planning now, before HOT lanes are approved without any public transportation component.”

“Used properly, HOT lanes can clean the air, speed commutes and protect open spaces from unwanted sprawl.  But Virginia may end up using them to finance bloated road expansion, more air pollution and sprawling new development,” said Michael Replogle, transportation director of Environmental Defense. “These HOT lanes should be used as a tool to limit congestion, cut traffic growth, and pay for attractive transit choices, including bus rapid transit.” 

Virginia could build on successful experiments with HOT lanes in California, Texas, and Minnesota to help reduce congestion and manage air pollution problems while increasing public transportation options and mobility.  The keys to getting the best performance out of HOT lanes are:

-  Ensuring the Right Outcomes - State and local leaders should not approve new HOT lanes without requiring a robust public transportation element and dedicated funding to ensure that the project will meet system performance standards to curb traffic and pollution problems.

-  Managing Side Effects – HOT lanes and better transit should be designed and managed as a system to ensure that they don’t create congestion on local roads that connect to the highway.

-  Considering Alternatives- Instead of just adding new HOT lanes, officials should create BRT/HOT lane capacity at lower cost by adopting more Rush Hour Lanes – converting highway shoulders to managed travel lanes during peak hours - and converting existing general purpose lanes to toll managed lanes.

Based in Washington, DC, the Breakthrough Technologies Institute (BTI) is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), dedicated to promoting advanced energy and environmental technologies.  BTI receives no funding from any corporation or organization with a financial interest in developing or deploying BRT.