PATH

Effectiveness of California’s High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) System

Varaiya, Pravin
2007

This is the most extensive empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of California’s HOV system based on data collected from traffic sensors. The evaluation leads to four major conclusions. (1) Since it operates as a single lane freeway, an HOV lane suffers a 20 % capacity loss compared with multi-lane freeways. (2) HOV lanes are either under-utilized or suffer degraded operations. (3) HOV lanes do not measurably increase car-pooling. (4) HOV lanes do not reduce overall congestion in a reasonably well-managed system.

The Automated Highway System / Street Interface: Final Report

Hall, Randolph
Chin, Chinan
Gadgil, Nishad
2003

The economics of roadways, and their variability in demand, favor construction of multi-layered and inter-connected networks. Different network layers are designed to different standards and to perform somewhat different functions, though all provide the common function of mobility for a reasonably homogeneous class of vehicles. Yet interfaces have been constructed to provide a smooth transition between network layers, with little delay and inconvenience to travelers. This project has investigated interfaces between an automated highway network layer and city streets. The report...

Methods Of Analysis Of IVHS Safety

Hitchcock, Anthony
1992

This is the final and primary report of a PATH project which focused on developing and demonstrating methods by which the safety of Intelligent Vehicle Highway Systems (IVHS) can be assured, assessed and evaluated. Safety considerations were studied for automated freeways, driver aids, and copilots.

Establishing Infrastructure Requirements for Bus Rapid Transportation Operations in Dedicated Bus Lanes

Monismith, Carl L., P.E.
Weissman, Shmuel L., PhD
Popescu, Lorina
Santero, Nicholas J.
2008

Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) has the potential to improve mass transit service and contribute to reduced traffic congestion in urban areas. To achieve this improvement in service BRT will require the use of dedicated bus lanes together with lane assist and precision docking (LA/PD) to accelerate the passenger boarding process. Using this approach, BRT lanes can be reduced somewhat in width. However, such a reduction will result in increased channelization of traffic which in turn can lead to a more rapid development of pavement distress. With today’s improved pavement engineering technology, it...

Vehicle-based Control Computer Systems

Auslander, David M
1995

This report is presented in two parts: the first part describes a design and implementation methodology for real time software suitable for control of mechanical systems such as vehicles. This method provides for a design description of the system, a means of capturing the system structure in such a way as to modularize the software writing job, and a portable implementation method. The second part is concerned with a particular problem in the mechanical system control: estimating velocity when the even rate from a digital encoder is lower than the controller's sample time. Methods are...

Evaluation of Caltrans District 10 Automated Warning System: Year Two Progress Report

MacCarley, Art
1999

District 10 of the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) encompasses an area of seasonal fog and dust-related visibility problems that have been the cause of numerous multi-car traffic collisions, many fatal. In 1990, motivated by the expansion of State Route 120 (SR 120) connecting Interstate Highway 5 (I-5) and State Route 99 (SR 99), Caltrans proposed a sophisticated multi-sensor automated warning system as a means for reducing incidents in this high-traffic area. This proposal, and the significant development effort that followed, culminated in the implementation of Phase...

Case Study: Road Pricing In Practice

Levinson, David
1997

This report examines the history of turnpikes. It attempts to present an understanding of the reasons behind the decline and restoration of turnpikes. It also develops evidence for an explanatory hypothesis of the choice by jurisdictions to finance roads using tolls

Adaptive Throttle Control For Speed Tracking

Xu, Z.
Ioannou, P.
1994

In this paper, the authors design an adaptive control scheme for electronic throttle that achieves good tracking of arbitrary constant speed commands in the presence of unknown disturbances. The design is based on a simplified linear vehicle model which is derived from a validated nonlinear one. The designed control scheme is simulated using the validated full order nonlinear vehicle model and tested on an actual vehicle. The simulation and vehicle test results are included in this paper to show the performance of the controller. Due to the learning capability of the adaptive control...

TASK A-1: Motivations Behind Electronic Road Pricing. What is the Driving Force Behind the Worldwide Rise in Tolling? A Review of Innovative Road Pricing from Across the Globe

Kalauskas, Rebecca
Taylor, Brian D.
Iseki, Hiroyuki
2009

The report identifies the motivations behind and objectives of specific road pricing initiatives, and to explore why such policies are becoming an increasingly popular approach to transportation finance and management. Over the past 15 years, electronic road pricing projects have appeared in a variety of forms across the globe – from the Interstate 15 High-occupancy toll (HOT) Lanes in San Diego County, to the congestion cordon pricing scheme in central London, to the German weight-distance truck toll system, to the Oregon mileage-based user fees pilot program. While the stated objectives...

EDAPTS Benefit/Cost Evaluation

Jia, Xudong, PhD
Sullivan, Edward, PhD
Nuworsoo, Cornelius, PhD
Hockaday, Neil
2008

This technical report summarizes the benefit/cost evaluation of the SLO Transit EDAPTS ITS system. It provides a detailed description of the methodologies and procedures used, as well as the research findings resulting from the evaluation effort. Using passenger questionnaire, boarding time surveys and interviews with SLO Transit drivers and administrators, the research team collected and estimated various benefits and costs of the SLO Transit EDAPTS system and conducted a benefit/cost (B/C) ratio analysis on the EDAPTS system. Also the research team performed a sensitivity analysis of B/C...