State and Federal Legislative Issues for Managed Lanes

The managed lane concept is currently being considered on major freeway projects in Texas cities. The term "managed lanes" encompasses a variety of facility types, including high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes, high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, single-occupancy vehicle (SOV) express lanes, special-use lanes, and truck lanes. The premise of the managed lanes concept is to increase freeway efficiency and provide free-flow operations for certain freeway users by packaging various operational and design strategies. The strategies deployed offer the flexibility to be adjusted to match changing corridor and regional goals. This report documents the research undertaken in task seven of the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) research project 0-4160, "Operating Freeways with Managed Lanes." The objective of this task was to assess the federal and state legislative needs necessary for Texas to successfully implement the various types of managed lane facilities across the state and provide recommendations regarding necessary changes to federal and state legislation.