Energy and Environmental Impacts of Atlanta’s Reversible Express Toll Lanes and High-Occupancy Toll Lanes

Nationwide, there is growing trend in using managed lane concept to enhance operations on freeways. As part of their $16 billion proposed buildout of managed lanes in Georgia, the Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT) is opening reversible express toll lanes on the I-75 / I-575 Northwest Corridor, and is expanding the High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) lanes on I-85 in Fall 2018. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) national performance management measures under MAP-21 require states to assess the performance of the National Highway System (23 CFR 490.511) to ensure the most efficient investment of Federal transportation funds. Transportation performance goals include: congestion reduction, system reliability, freight movement, economic vitality, and environmental sustainability. However, a detailed assessment of changes in per-capita energy use has never been conducted for these projects. This research primarily aims to evaluate the effects of two newly-constructed Express Toll Lanes along the I-75 corridor and I-85 corridor in the Metro Atlanta region in the energy and environmental context, including the impact of per-vehicle and per-person energy consumption and air pollutant emissions (PM10, PM2.5, NOx, CO, CO2, VOCs, etc.) modeling, and near-road pollutant concentration predictions. This study is supported by a comprehensive before-and-after data collection effort being conducted by Georgia Tech researchers for the State Road and Tollway Authority (SRTA). Tools combining dispersion model AERMOD, emission model of conventional vehicles MOVES-Matrix, and emission model of Alternative Fuel Vehicles (AFVs) Autonomie will be applied in this research.

• Record URL:
  https://ncst.ucdavis.edu/project/energy-and-environmental-impacts-of-atlantas-toll-lanes/

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $120000
• Contract Numbers:

  DOT 69A3551747114

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Office of the Assistant Secretary for Research and Technology

  University Transportation Centers Program
  Department of Transportation
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

  School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  790 Atlantic Drive
  Atlanta, GA  United States  30332-0355

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 
• Managing Organizations:

  National Center for Sustainable Transportation

  University of California, Davis
  Davis, CA  United States 

  University of California, Davis

  Institute of Transportation Studies
  Davis, CA  United States  95616
• Project Managers:

  Iacobucci, Lauren

• Performing Organizations:

  Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta

  School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  790 Atlantic Drive
  Atlanta, GA  United States  30332-0355
• Principal Investigators:

  Liu, Haobing

  Rodgers, Michael

• Start Date: 20180901
• Expected Completion Date: 20220930
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• USDOT Program: University Transportation Centers

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Before and after studies; Congestion management systems; Energy consumption; Environmental impacts; High occupancy toll lanes; Highway design; Managed lanes; Pollutants; Toll roads
• Geographic Terms: Atlanta (Georgia)
• Subject Areas: Design; Energy; Environment; Highways;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01701354
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: National Center for Sustainable Transportation
• Contract Numbers: DOT 69A3551747114
• Files: UTC, RIP
• Created Date: Apr 2 2019 9:00PM