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Project Evaluation...

The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) is committed to looking at how the HOV lane worked and monitored the operation and performance of the HOV lane and the I-5 corridor during the HOV lane test period. The following documents represent the several reports generated during the HOV pilot project. This information was the basis to assess the success of the HOV lane and will included factors such as usage, travel time, violation rates, and public opinion.

There were a total of six evaluations conducted since the HOV lane opened in October 2001. They are compared to a Baseline Conditions Report containing information collected prior to October 2001.

Vancouver HOV Lane Monitoring and Evaluation Report #6

The Evaluation Report #6 (52 pages, 299K PDF) is now available. It is the sixth set of data collected since the opening of the HOV lane in October 2001, and the latest evaluation report during this pilot project period. It contains travel data collected in October 2004, and compares it with information from the Baseline Conditions Report (12 pages, 189K PDF) collected in May and September 2001. Evaluation Report #1 (30 pages, 1035K PDF) collected November and December 2001; Evaluation Report #2 (45 pages, 615K PDF) collected March 2002; Evaluation Report #3, (51 pages, 1096K PDF) collected July 2002; Evaluation Report #4 (63 pages, 1150K PDF) collected October 2002; and Evaluation Report #5 (72 pages, 401K PDF) collected April 2004.

Report #6 also contains the results of a public opinion survey conducted in September 2002. It is the third opinion survey conducted as part of the HOV evaluation process. The baseline HOV Lane Community Perception Survey was administered in September 2001, prior to the opening of the HOV lane. The second survey was in March of 2002 and is contained in Evaluation Report #2. The September 2002 survey in Evaluation Report #6 is compared to the previous public opinion results.

Daily Travel Time Performance: 
General Purpose Lanes

WSDOT’s Incident Response Team collects weekday travel times to supplement the regular HOV data collection to monitor performance of the general-purpose lanes in the I-5 corridor during the hours when the HOV lane is in operation. Travel time runs began on December 17, 2001 and are still being collected. For Evaluation Report #6, there were 55 trips between September 1, 2004 and October 29, 2004. This evaluation shows a higher percentage of trips of less than 10 minutes (29%) and a higher percentage of trips of more than 20 minutes (23%) compared to the Report #5 in April 2004. Thirty percent of the trips in excess of 20 minutes were related to an incident in the corridor. The average travel time for the 55 trips was 15.8 minutes.

Vancouver HOV Lane Monitoring and Evaluation Report #5

The Evaluation Report #5 (72 pages, 401K PDF) is now available. It is the fifth set of data collected since the opening of the HOV lane in October 2001 and the latest evaluation report during this pilot project period. It contains travel data collected in April 2004 and compares it with information from the Baseline Conditions Report (12 pages, 189K PDF), collected May and September 2001, Evaluation Report #1 (30 pages, 1035K PDF), collected November and December 2001; Evaluation Report #2 (45 pages, 615K PDF), collected March 2002; Evaluation Report #3, (51 pages, 1096K PDF), collected July 2002, and Evaluation Report #4 (63 pages, 1150K PDF).

This report also contains the results of public opinion survey conducted in September 2002. It is the third opinion survey conducted as part of the HOV evaluation process. The baseline HOV Lane Community Perception Survey was administered in September 2001, prior to the opening of the HOV lane. The second survey was in March of 2002 and is contained in Evaluation Report #2. The September 2002 survey in Evaluation Report #5 is compared the previous public opinion results.

Daily Travel Time Performance: 
General Purpose Lanes

WSDOT’s Incident Response Team collects weekday travel times to supplement the regular HOV data collection to monitor performance of the general-purpose lanes in the I-5 corridor during the hours when the HOV lane is in operation. Travel time runs began on December 17, 2001 and are still being collected. There were 191 trips between December 17, 2001 and March 22, 2002; 142 trips from March 25 to July 17, 2002; 63 trips from July 18 to October 4, 2002; and 47 trips from January 22 to April 21, 2004. For this evaluation period (Report #5), 23 percent of the trips were less than 10 minutes and averaged 13.8 minutes. The average travel time for the first two evaluation periods was 9.8 minutes and for the third evaluation period was 8.8 minutes. This evaluation shows a lower percentage of trips (23%) less than 10 minutes and a higher percentage of trips more than 20 minutes (11%) compared to the previous evaluations. It also has the highest percentage of trips (66%) between 11 and 20 minutes.

Vancouver HOV Lane Monitoring and Evaluation Report #4

The Evaluation Report #4 (63 pages, 1150K PDF) is now available. It is the fourth set of data collected since the opening of the HOV lane in October 2001 and the last evaluation report during this pilot project period. It contains travel data collected in October 2002 and compares it with information from the Baseline Conditions Report (12 pages, 189K PDF), collected May and September 2001, Evaluation Report #1 (30 pages, 1035K PDF), collected November and December 2001; Evaluation Report #2 (45 pages, 615K PDF), collected March 2002; and Evaluation Report #3 (51 pages, 1096K PDF), collected July 2002.

This report also contains the results of public opinion survey conducted in September 2002. It is the third survey conducted as part of the HOV evaluation process. The baseline HOV Lane Community Perception Survey was administered in September 2001, prior to the opening of the HOV lane. The second survey was in March of 2002 and is contained in Evaluation Report #2. The September 2002 survey is compared the previous public opinion results.

Daily Travel Time Performance: 
General Purpose Lanes

WSDOT has collected weekday travel times, over the last year, to monitor performance of the general-purpose lanes in the I-5 corridor when the HOV lane is in operation. Travel time runs began on December 17, 2001 and are still being collected. The first chart below summarizes 191 trips between December 17, 2001 and March 22, 2002. The second chart summarizes 142 trips from March 25 to July 17, 2002. The third chart summarizes 63 trips from July 18 to October 4, 2002. For trips in excess of 20 minutes, the figure denotes whether the delay was related to an incident. In the most recent evaluation, 81 percent of the trips in the corridor were less than 10 minutes and averaged 8.8 minutes of travel time. The average travel time for the first two evaluation periods was 9.8 minutes.

I-5 Southbound General Purpose Lane Travel Time Distribution
99th Street to I-5 Bridge

Vancouver HOV Lane Monitoring and Evaluation Report #3

The Evaluation Report #3 (51 pages, 1096K PDF) is now available. It is the third set of data collected since the opening of the HOV lane in October 2001. It includes travel data collected in July 2002 and compares it with information from the Baseline Conditions Report (12 pages, 189K PDF), collected May and September 2001, Evaluation Report #1 (30 pages, 1035K PDF), collected November and December 2001; and Evaluation Report #2 (45 pages, 615K PDF), collected March 2002.

The HOV Lane Community Perception Survey (43 pages, 361K PDF) has the results of an opinion survey of people in Clark County that travel the I-5 corridor at least three days a week. The survey was conducted in September 2001 and measures public perceptions of the HOV lane, including general awareness and attitudes about the HOV lane, and travel characteristics of survey respondents. Evaluation Report #2 also contains results of an opinion survey conducted in March 2002 and compares it to the survey conducted in September 2001.

Daily Travel Time Performance: 
General Purpose Lanes

Since December 17, the Washington State Department of Transportation has begun the daily weekday collection of travel times to monitor performance of the general-purpose lanes in the I-5 corridor when the HOV lane is in operation. Travel time runs began on December 17, 2001 and are still being collected. The first chart below summarizes 191 runs between December 17, 2001 and March 22. The second chart summarizes 142 trips from March 25 to July 17, 2002. For trips in excess of 20 minutes, the figure denotes whether the delay was related to an incident. The average travel time for the 333 total trips was 9.8 minutes. If the 9 incident trips over 20 minutes are removed, the average travel time for the remaining 324 trips was 9.1 minutes.

Vancouver HOV Lane Monitoring and Evaluation Report #2

The Evaluation Report #2 (45 pages, 615K PDF) is now available. It is the second set of data collected since the opening of the HOV lane in October 2001. It includes travel data and a new survey that measures public opinion after the opening of the HOV lane. Report #2 contains data collected in March 2002 and is compared with information from the Baseline Conditions Report (12 pages, 189K PDF), collected May and September 2001, and the Evaluation Report #1 (30 pages, 1035K PDF), collected November and December 2001.

The HOV Lane Community Perception Survey (43 pages, 361K PDF) has the results of an opinion survey of people in Clark County that travel the I-5 corridor at least three days a week. The survey was conducted in September and measures public perceptions of the HOV lane, including general awareness and attitudes about the HOV lane, and travel characteristics of survey respondents. 

Daily Travel Time Performance:
General Purpose Lanes

Since December 17, the Washington State Department of Transportation has begun the daily weekday collection of travel times to monitor performance of the general-purpose lanes in the I-5 corridor when the HOV lane is in operation. Travel time runs began on December 17, 2001 and are still being collected. The chart below summarizes 184 runs between December 17, 2001 and April 9, 2002. For trips in excess of 20 minutes, the figure denotes whether the delay was related to an incident. Nine (9) of the 18 trips over 20 minutes were incident related.

The average travel time for the 184 trips was 10.3 minutes. If the 9 incident trips over 20 minutes are removed, the average travel time for the remaining 175 trips was 9.0 minutes.

I-5 Southbound General Purpose Lane Travel Time Distribution
99th Street to I-5 Bridge

Vancouver HOV Lane Monitoring and Evaluation Report #1

The Executive Summary for the Vancouver HOV Lane Pilot Project Evaluation Report is a summary of the key information and findings on the operation and performance of, as well as public opinion about, the HOV lane and the I-5 corridor. (HTML and also 7 page, 208K PDF)

The Evaluation Report #1 compares travel data for the I-5 corridor before and after the HOV lane opened. Baseline data was collected in May and September. Post opening data was collected in November and December. (30 pages, 1035K PDF)

The Baseline Conditions Report contains the detailed baseline data that collected prior to the HOV lane opening. (12 pages, 189K PDF)

The HOV Lane Community Perception Survey has the results of an opinion survey of people in Clark County that travel the I-5 corridor at least three days a week. The survey was conducted in September and measures public perceptions of the HOV lane, including general awareness and attitudes about the HOV lane, and travel characteristics of survey respondents. (43 pages, 361K PDF)

Daily Travel Time Performance:
General Purpose Lanes

The Washington State Department of Transportation has begun the daily collection of travel times to monitor performance of the general-purpose lanes in the I-5 corridor when the HOV lane is in operation. The graph below shows southbound weekday travel times over a two-week period. The horizontal axis shows the time of day that the data was collected. The vertical axis indicates the total southbound travel time in the corridor from 99th Street to the Interstate Bridge. Of the fifty travel time runs completed during this period, five were more than 10 minutes. The highest time was 38 minutes, recorded on December 18. This information will be periodically updated to reflect the most recent travel time runs.

Click graph to see larger version.

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