Development and Implementation of
Congestion Pricing Triggers on Toll Roads to
Manage Congestion
14th TRB National Transportation Planning Applications Conference
Yagnesh Jarmarwala
Phani Jammalamadaka
Michael Copeland
Maneesh Mahlawat
May 7, 2013
TRB National Planning Applications Conference
Overview
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•
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Background
Congestion pricing/capacity expansion triggers
Implementation process
Test scenarios/results
Summary
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BACKGROUND ON ROADWAY
CONGESTION
State of Roadway Congestion
• Yearly delay per auto traveler
– 14 hours (1982)
– 34 hours (2010)
• Congestion cost
per auto traveler
(2010 $)
*
– $310 (1982)
– $713 (2010)
In most urban areas,
congestion is expected
to worsen.
*Ratio of the peak and off-peak travel times
Sources:
- 2010, 2011 Annual Mobility Report, Texas Transportation Institute Report
- David T. Hartgen and M. Gregory Fields, Building Roads to Reduce Traffic Congestion in America's Cities, Reason Foundation.
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Why Congestion Pricing?
• Increased roadway demand
– Alternative demand management strategies
• Challenges to increasing roadway capacity
– Funding
– Air quality impacts
– Right of way, etc.
• Increased roadway capacity results in “Triple Convergence”
– Temporal
– Spatial
– Modal
• Congestion pricing is one of the tools available to address triple
convergence
Source: Anthony Downs. Stuck in Traffic (1992), pp. 27-29
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Roadway Congestion Pricing
• A traffic demand management tool
• Could eliminate discretionary trips and shift peak period trips to
off-peak periods, alternative routes or other modes
• Could assist with meeting air quality compliance goals
• Types:
– Traditional toll facilities
– Managed lane facilities
– Cordon tolling
• Could be very prevalent tool in future
• Congestion pricing based triggers can aid in meeting national
performance goals (MAP-21)
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Where congestion pricing is successfully
implemented?
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Airline industry , airports, parking
Cell phone industry
Shipping and logistics industry
Utilities like electricity industry
Movie theaters
Museums, hotels and resorts
Congestion pricing can be feasible on toll roads
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What are types of congestion pricing on
roadways?
• Facility specific
– Traditional toll facilities
– Managed lane facilities
– Cordon tolling
• Pricing specific
– Static pricing
– Dynamic pricing
Congestion pricing could be a prevalent tool in future
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CONGESTION PRICING & CAPACITY
EXPANSION TRIGGERS
Trigger Mechanism
Goals
Performance
Measures
• Safety
• Environmental sustainability
• Reliability
• Delay facility expansion
• Financial viability
• Average speed
• Traffic density
• Emissions
• Average delay
• Level of service
• Duration and extent
• Travel time
• Traffic volume
• Revenue
• Reliability
• Traffic flow rate
• Queue length
• Trigger event

• Duration of the trigger event
 Measure congestion duration continuously
Level of Service > D
 Travel Speed < 15 mph below lesser of either free
Triggers
for three months
 If trigger event happens for more than 10
flow speed or posted speed limit
 Flow Rate > 2150* vehicles per hour per lane
percent of the time
* depends on geometry and location of facility
P-CPR
Pricing
Preliminary Congestion Pricing Regime
A-CPR
Aggressive Congestion Pricing Regime
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Congestion Pricing Triggers
• Sample triggers and pricing regimes
• First pricing trigger (FPT)
– 10 mph below posted speed over a two hour period on a 5 mile section
• Second pricing trigger (SPT)
– 20 mph below posted speed over a two hour period on a 5 mile section
• Preliminary congestion pricing regime (P-CPR)
– Implemented after FPT
• Aggressive congestion pricing regime (A-CPR)
– Implemented after SPT, after PCPR is already in place
• Capacity expansion trigger (CET)
– 20 mph below posted speed over a two hour period on a 5 mile section
after the ACPR is implemented
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Congestion Pricing Triggers
70
60
Speed (in mph)
50
40
30
A-CPR
20
10
0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5 5.0 5.5 6.0 6.5 7.0
Time
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IMPLEMENTATION PROCESS
Stakeholders
Implementation
Tolling Agency
DOT
MPO
Input/Beneficiary
Resources
Public
City
County
State
FHWA
FTA
MPO
Congestion
Pricing
Policy
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Congestion Pricing Planning
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Congestion Pricing Implementation
Planning
Pilot
Communication
Plan
Where to start Pilot?
Feedback
Implementation
Plan
When to start Pilot?
Customer Survey
Technological
Needs
How to implement
Pilot?
Results/Effects
Monitoring &
Reporting
All congestion management activities
including monitoring, triggers, reporting,
pricing shall be defined by Congestion
Management Implementation Plan (CMIP)
and implemented by CMIP developed in
the planning phase
Evaluation
Update Congestion
Management Policy and
Plan
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TEST SCENARIOS/MODEL RESULTS
Test Model
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1,029 Zones
• Time periods analyzed
7,476 Links
– AM Shoulder 1 (1 hour)
Urban area highway model
– AM Peak (1 hour)
Traditional toll facility system
– AM Shoulder 2 (1/2
hour)
– Toll facility 1
• Segments 1,2,3
– Toll facility 2
• Segments 4,5
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Modeling Methodology
• AM period traffic assignments
• Binary choice (toll path vs. non-toll path) model
– Embedded in equilibrium assignment
• Probability of toll road usage dependent on
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Toll rates
Congestion/travel time savings
Traveler values of time
Operating costs
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Scenarios Tested
The above alternatives were tested under
• No expansion scenario
• After expansion of sections 1,4, and 5
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AM Peak Delay (Before Expansion)
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
System
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Average Delay (in min)
10
8
6
4
2
0
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
Toll (% of Base)
21
300%
System Traffic (Before Expansion)
Base TT
90% TT
95% TT
105% TT
110% TT
200
180
Traffic (in thousands)
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
300%
Toll (% of Base)
22
System Revenue (Before Expansion)
Base TT
90% TT
95% TT
105% TT
110% TT
200
180
Revenue (in $ thousands)
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
50%
100%
150%
200%
250%
300%
Toll (% of Base)
23
AM Peak Speed (Before Expansion)
70
50
40
30
20
10
0
50%
Base
Average Speed (mph)
60
100%
150%
200%
Section 1
Section 2
Section 3
Section 4
Section 5
System
250%
Toll (% of Base)
24
300%
System AM Peak Speed (Before Expansion)
70
60
40
30
20
10
0
50%
Base
Average Speed (mph)
50
90% TT
95% TT
Base TT
105% TT
110% TT
100%
150%
200%
250%
Toll (% of Base)
25
300%
AM Peak Speed (Before
(After Expansion)
Expansion)
70
70
50
40
30
20
10
0
50%
Base
Base
Average Speed (mph)
60
100%
150%
200%
Section11
Section
Section 22
Section
Section33
Section
Section 44
Section
Section55
Section
System
System
250%
Toll (% of Base)
26
300%
System
AM
Peak
Speed
(Before
Expansion)
(After
Expansion)
70
70
50
50
40
40
30
30
20
20
10
10
Base
Average Speed (mph)
60
60
90%TT
TT
90%
95%
TT
95% TT
105%
TT
105% TT
BaseTT
TT
Base
0
0
50%
50%
110%
110%TT
TT
100%
100%
150%
200%
150%
200%
Toll
Toll(%
(%ofofBase)
Base)
250%
250%
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300%
300%
T&R By Facility (Before Expansion)
100
120
Traffic Facility 1
Traffic Facility 2
Revenue Facility 1
Revenue Facility 2
90
Traffic (in thousands)
70
80
60
50
60
40
40
30
20
20
10
0
0
50%
70%
100%
130%
150%
200%
300%
Toll (% of Base)
28
Revenue (in $ thousands)
100
80
T&R By Facility (After Expansion)
100
120
90
Traffic Facility 1
Traffic Facility 2
Revenue Facility 1
Revenue Facility 2
Traffic (in thousands)
70
80
60
50
60
40
40
30
20
20
10
0
0
50%
70%
100%
130%
150%
200%
300%
Toll (% of Base)
29
Revenue (in $ thousands)
100
80
SUMMARY
Summary
• Need for establishing triggers
– Congestion pricing
– Facility expansions
• Trigger criteria
– Performance measures such as average speed, delay,
revenue, etc.
– Duration of monitoring
– Roadway section lengths
• Implementation process
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Summary
• Congestion pricing example
– Impacts on a toll system
• Toll rate changes, trip table changes and expansion
• Speeds, delay, transactions and revenue
• Future research
– Explore impacts on other performance measures
such as density, queue lengths, emissions, etc.
– Revenue neutral congestion pricing strategies
• Impacts of off-peak discounts
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