Managing Transportation Demand: HOV and HOT Lanes

Across the country, states are facing growing challenges in providing enough roadway capacity to meet travel demand. Traffic growth on congested roads, rising construction costs, dwindling dollars for road expansion, constrained rights-of-way, local interests and environmental concerns are encouraging states to explore innovative options that can help achieve key transportation goals, while efficiently and effectively using the resources states already have.
 
One viable alternative to new road construction—known as demand management—focuses on making the most of existing infrastructure and leveraging limited resources. Demand management techniques help states reduce total travel demand or shift trips to off-peak periods. According to the Federal Highway Administration, demand management originally was intended to “provide alternatives to single occupancy commuter travel to save energy, improve air quality and reduce peak period congestion;” today, the objectives also include optimizing overall system performance.