San Diego’s Interstate 15 Congestion Pricing Project: Attitudinal, Behavioral, and Institutional Issues

Abstract

Attitudinal, behavioral, and institutional findings are summarized from the evaluation of the Interstate 15 (I-15) congestion pricing project, a 3-year demonstration that allowed single-occupant vehicles to use the existing I-15 high-occupancy-vehicle lanes, known as the I-15 express lanes, for a fee. The project was part of the FHWA Congestion Pricing Pilot Program and was managed by the San Diego Association of Governments. San Diego State University conducted an independent, multielement evaluation of the project. FasTrak offered all travelers on I-15 a choice of whether to pay for the use of the lanes. FasTrak users saved time by using the express lanes. The most-cited reason to join FasTrak was the need for on-time arrival. FasTrak users and I-15 carpoolers continuously perceived traffic conditions in the I-15 express lanes as satisfactory. A majority of FasTrak customers and an increasing fraction of I-15 carpoolers considered the project successful. Equity issues did not emerge despite the fact that FasTrak users came from the highestincome groups. Potential business interest in a program like FasTrak primarily hinges on the company’s perceived dependency on a corridor in which the program is installed. Homeowners surveyed considered the I-15 pricing program as a secondary factor in their decision to relocate along the I-15 corridor. Many involved in implementing the project perceived that the project matched or exceeded their expectations. They stated that it proved that pricing was a technically and politically viable strategy. The media satisfactorily informed the public about the project.

Determinants of driver response to variable message sign information in Athens

“…The traditional direction of new road construction, which has been proven to be a short-term solution, has been replaced by strategies that aim at the reduction of passenger car use and/or management. This can be achieved through public transport promotion (for an example see [2]), car-pooling and vehicle-sharing promotion [3,4], introduction of high occupancy lanes or additional economic incentives [5], road charging [6], as well as strategies that aim at managing the network traffic at an optimal manner through the implementation of various intelligent transport systems, such as intelligent traffic signals [7], ramp metering [8] and advanced traveller information systems [9][10][11]. Variable message signs (VMSs) belong to the latter category and form part of the transport network infrastructure in several bigger and smaller cities or roads, and are usually supported by local traffic management centres.…”

A Geography-Specific Approach to Estimating the Distributional Impact of Highway Tolls: An Application to the Puget Sound Region of Washington State

“…Hypothetical toll of $0.15/mile • Low-and middle-income commuters would lose unless they could change their mode of travel to avoid a toll Sullivan (2000Sullivan ( , 2002 Orange County, CA Observation of SR 91 congestion tolling • Use of tolled facility is positively correlated with income • Work schedule flexibility appeared to be unrelated to use of I-15 tolled express lane Supernak et al (2002) San Diego area Observation of I-15 congestion tolling • Tolled express lane users are more likely to be from higher-income households than nonusers. Safirova et al (2003) Northern Virginia Hypothetical conversion of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to tolled and high-occupancy transit lanes • All income groups would benefit from the conversion.…”

Real-time congestion pricing strategies for toll facilities

“…Supernak et al, 2003;Supernak et al, 2002a;Supernak et al, 2002b;Burris and Stockton, 2004;Zhang et al, 2009) and travelers' willingness to pay (Li, 2001;Burris and Appiah, 2004;Podgorski and Kockelman, 2006;Zmud et al, 2007;Finkleman et al, 2011), SO tolling policies have received little attention. Existing studies focused on ad hoc objectives that the tolling agencies may seek to achieve, such as ensuring free-flow conditions on HOT lane.…”