TransCore Serves As Integrator For Silicon Valley’s New HOV Lane Conversion To Express Lanes

Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) launched the first phase of its 180-mile conversion of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes to Express Lanes, or commonly known as high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, with TransCore serving as lead integrator for the project. The $11.8 million program was funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), the Federal Value Pricing Pilot Program (VPPP) and local funding. The project is expected to be completed by 2015.

The VTA Express Lanes Program comes at a crucial time in Silicon Valley as it prepares for an expected 38 percent growth in population over the next 20 years and funding for transportation improvements is projected to grow at only a fraction of that amount.

Converting HOV to HOT lanes has become a popular approach to expand capacity on existing roadways in major urban areas across the country. Since existing HOV lanes have the available capacity to accommodate more vehicles, HOT or express lanes allow solo drivers the option to use the HOV lanes for a fee, ultimately easing congestion in the general purpose lanes. Through the use of dynamic pricing, VTA can manage the amount of traffic in the express lanes and maintain free-flowing speeds even when the general purpose lanes are congested. Motorists who use the express lanes will benefit from more reliable and expedited travel times while the revenue is reinvested in the corridor and to fund other transportation improvements.

VTA is implementing the Silicon Valley Express Lanes Program to provide congestion relief in one of its major Bay Area commuter corridors. As part of the program, the SR 237, U.S. 101, SR 85 and parts of I-680 corridor will convert the existing HOV lanes to express lanes.

The first phase of the project focused on the intersect of the major north to south interstate I-880, from Oakland south into San Jose, with SR 237, the east to west freeway. Carpools as well as clean air vehicles, motorcycles, and transit buses will continue to use the lanes free of charge. Express Lane fees will be collected electronically using the radio frequency identification (RFID)-based electronic toll collection technology already in use on the San Francisco Bay Area Bridges and elsewhere in California. Enforcement will be provided by the California Highway Patrol.

“TransCore’s traffic engineering experience combined with our knowledge implementing every aspect of electronic toll collection, from system integration to manufacturing RFID technology, allowed us to tackle challenging design aspects that VTA faced and develop a solution that addresses the traffic concerns experienced in this corridor,” explained Michael Mauritz, TransCore managing director for the Western region.

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