Reducing Atlanta’s Congestion through Value-Priced Capacity

byRobert W. Poole, Jr.

Director of Transportation Studies,Reason Foundationwww.reason.org/transportation

Congestion Is a Major—and Growing—Problem for Atlanta

Travel-time index is 1.46 today; will be 1.67 by 2030.Value of wasted time and fuel today is $1.75 billion/year.Full economic cost—to businesses and individuals—is about 2.5 that much.

The Current LRTP Would Barely Change Travel Behavior.

Commute Mode Share2005 2030

Drive alone 83.0% 81.6%Carpool 10.3% 10.0%Transit 6.7% 8.4%After spending $26B . . . and with

congestion getting much worse.Source: ARC

Current LRTP Needs Revamping.

• Focus is on reducing VMT via carpooling and transit.

• Of total $26B investment:• $10B for transit• $5B for HOV lanes• Only $8B for highways

• TTI grows from 1.46 to 1.67 by 2030

Gov’s Congestion Mitigation Task Force—Major Change of Course

Goal: reduce TTI from 1.46 now to 1.35 by 2030.Revamp long-range plan to weight congestion reduction at 70% in project selection. Develop transparent benefit/cost methodology for project selection.

Why the Transit/Carpool Model Doesn’t Reduce Congestion:

Atlanta’s density is far too low for transit to be viable for most trips.Jobs are increasingly in the suburbs, not the “central business district.”Most commuting is suburb-to-suburb.

Figure1: ComparativeAverageP opulationDensityin theBuilt- upareasof 46Metropolitanareas.

Figure4:AtlantaandBarcelonabuilt-uparearepresentedat thesamescale.

Figure5:Spatial Distributionofadditional po pulationbetween1990and1999byaccesstotransit

98byaccesstotransitFigure6: Spatial Distribu tionofadditional jobsbetween 1990and 19

Commute trips suburb-to-suburb

Inadequate roadway systemAtlanta (radial) Dallas (network)

So How DO We Reduce Congestion?

Incident-related congestion:Faster response and clearance of incidents:

Video cameras, telecommunicationsFreeway service patrolsLegal changes

Better management of work zones

Recurrent Congestion

Better system management & operations

Ramp metering on freewaysArterial signal timing

Bottleneck removalMore lane capacity

Freeway-Building Stopped in 1990s: but Traffic Growth Didn’t.

More Capacity DOES Reduce Congestion

Not Just New Capacity:Priced Capacity

Value pricing keeps the new lanes uncongested, offers premium service.During rush hours, priced lanes offer much greater througput.Self-generated revenues mean they can get built now, not “someday.”

91 Express Lanes, Orange County, California

Value Pricing Offers Precise Traffic Flow Control

I-15: quasi-real-time variable pricing91-Express: fine-tuned rate schedule, periodically adjusted

49% of peak traffic with 33% of lane capacity

Both offer reliable high speeds during rush hours.

Atlanta’s Needed Lane Additions

Major Proposed Additions

North-south tunnel to relieve Downtown ConnectorComplete Express Toll Network on existing freeways, instead of building HOV lanesNew east-west tollwaySeparate toll truckway system for long-haul trucks.

North-South Tunnel Location

North-South Tunnel Design Concept

Express Toll Lanes Network

Same physical additions as in GDOT’s full HOV plan (plus some others).All lanes value-priced, including existing HOV.Only bus and vanpool go free; all others pay market price.Enforcement very simple; valid transponder or not.All ETL lanes available for priced vehicles, buses and vanpools; hence, far more capacity than current plan.

Express Toll Lanes, Completed by 2023

Benefits of ETL Compared with HOV Lanes

Self-funding from toll revenues.Full 1,258 lane-mi. network. implemented by 2024 (vs. 813 lane-mi. by 2030).Adds 1,133 lane-miles for all vehicles vs. just 363 (due to bus-only restrictions).Facilitates regionwide high-speed BRT.“Congestion insurance” for all drivers.

Synergy of Priced Lanes and Bus Rapid Transit

Value-priced lane is virtual equivalent of exclusive busway (VEB).Pricing limits vehicle flow to what’s compatible with LOS C conditions.Reliable high speed is sustainable long-term, thanks to pricing.Houston implementing first VEB on Katy Freeway managed lanes.

Congestion-Reduction Benefits

Adding 1,653 lane-miles to freeways (plus 960 lane-miles of arterial and local roads) does the following, per ARC’s modeling:

27% decrease in vehicle hours of travel0.6% decrease in vehicle miles of travel$98.6B savings in time and cost over 20 years, thru 2030 (for a $25B investment)

Economic Benefits

Greater regional productivity due to better matching of skilled employees to job openings;Per US DOT chief economist, overall economic benefits 2.6X the direct time savings; hence more like $254B savings over 20 years (from $25B investment).

Transit benefits

1,258 lane-miles of “Virtual Exclusive Busway” capacity, at no cost to the transit providers.This facilitates regionwide, high-speed express bus service.Bus-based transit is more flexible and cost-effective than rail transit—better fit for low-density Atlanta.

Recommendations

Revise the long-range transportation plan along the lines proposed here.Build public support for value-pricing.For the large toll projects, use the long-term concession approach, to enlist private capital and to shift major risks to the private partners.

Closing Thought:

“Congestion is not a scientific mystery, nor is it an uncontrollable force. Congestion results from poor policy choices and a failure to separate solutions that are effective from those that are not.”

Norman Mineta, Secretary of Transportation, 2001-2006

Reducing Atlanta’s Congestion through Value-Priced Capacity

byRobert W. Poole, Jr.

Director of Transportation Studies,Reason Foundationwww.reason.org/transportation