Strategies for Separating Trucks from Passenger Vehicles: Final Report

Trucks constitute a large and growing segment of the traffic on Texas highways. In order to manage this growth, the Texas Department of Transportation needs to consider special or unique treatments for trucks such as truck lane restrictions, exclusive truck lanes, and exclusive truck facilities. This research addressed this topic for the state of Texas by developing tools for evaluating needs for special truck facilities, developing a truck route system, and developing recommendations for demonstration of a pilot system. Tasks required to accomplish these objectives began with a comprehensive literature review, to include the major corridor studies and an evaluation of special truck facilities implemented outside of Texas. The research then established criteria for each of the three levels of truck treatments, developed a plan to classify truck facilities, and developed an evaluation framework for these facilities. Based on these tasks, the research then investigated techniques for evaluating levels of service on truck facilities. The techniques were then applied to selected candidate corridors to demonstrate their utility. Finally, the research developed an action plan for implementation of the exclusive truck facilities.