Sullivan, Edward
State Route 91 Value-Priced Express Lanes: Updated Observations
Transportation Research Record
Issue Volume 1812 / 2002
DOI 10.3141/1812-05
Pages 37-42
Abstract: Recently over 5 years of field observations were concluded of the value-priced express lanes that opened December 27, 1995, in the median of State Route 91, in Orange County, California. Data collection, covering about a year and a half of observations to establish baseline conditions before opening day, included traffic measurements, vehicle occupancy counts, transit ridership, and comprehensive travel surveys of current and former commuters. The corresponding data analysis included the calibration of choice models of route, occupancy, transponder acquisition, and time-of-day behavior of commuters and the estimation of air pollution emissions. Findings are presented on traffic trends, toll lane use, travelers' responses to changing congestion and tolls, shifts in ridesharing and transit use, shifts in trip purpose, differences associated with income and other demographics, public opinion, collision experience, and the results of choice and emissions modeling. As the first practical application of value pricing in the United States, the State Route 91 express lanes provide many important insights, both technical and institutional, some of which are relevant to the implementation of value-pricing projects in other locations.

Journal of Planning Education and Research, Vol. 26, No. 2, 174-184 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0739456X06288093
© 2006 Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning
Unraveling Equity in HOT Lane Planning
A View from Practice
Asha Weinstein

urban and regional planning, San José State University

Gian-Claudia Sciara

University of California, Berkeley

This article investigates how concern about equity has arisen in the planning and implementation of high-occupancy/toll lane projects, or so-called "HOT lanes." Specifically, the research assesses (1) where and how equity issues have surfaced in the debate over HOT lanes and (2) how practicing planners have responded to these equity concerns. By looking explicitly at the planning process through a series of case studies and a review of newspaper coverage, the research suggests strategies for how practitioners can craft a comprehensive and meaningful framework for assessing and addressing equity issues.

Key Words: transportation planning • transportation finance • HOT lanes • congestion pricing • equity

AS WE ADD MILLIONS: HOW DO WE STAY MOBILE?
November 26, 2006
By 2043, we're being told, there won't just be 300 million of us -- there will be 400 million. With the roadways around our metropolitan regions increasingly clogged, how will we ever stay mobile?
Depending on the tea leaves you choose, some vividly contrasting futures emerge.
Vision No. 1 is ``stay the course.'' Keep driving as we have. In 1980, 64.4 percent of us drove to work alone; in 2000 it was 75.7 percent, according to the Transportation Research Board's recent ``Commuting in America'' survey by Alan Pisarski.
...
This is the hottest new trend, discussed intensely by governors, state transportation officials and state legislators. Multibillion-dollar roadway investments by private financing firms are increasing fast. We've reached what transportation expert C. Kenneth Orski calls a critical ``tipping point.''
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But still, says Thomas Downs, president of the Eno Transportation Foundation, politicians will have to face deep public doubts about selling off public assets or explaining why they condemn peoples' property to build for-profit roads.
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So is there a Vision No. 3? Yes, there's a set of tea leaves that says so -- the vote of many Americans earlier this month to support new and expanded public transit. Transit proposals with cumulative value of $40 billion were approved from Rhode Island to Minnesota, Missouri to Utah to California.
My next column will ask: Is Vision No. 3 a sentimental throwback, or a powerful alternative for this century?