High-Occupancy Toll Lanes Quarterly Reports
High-Occupancy Toll (HOT) Lanes involve converting existing high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes into priced lanes, or building new HOT lanes. These projects allow vehicles not meeting established occupancy requirements for an HOV lane to "buy-into" the lane by paying a toll. Electronic tolling provides for toll collection at highway speeds and tolls are set at levels necessary to maintain the lane's speed advantage. HOT lanes provide a reliable, uncongested, time saving alternative for travelers wanting to bypass congested lanes and they can improve the use of capacity on previously underutilized HOV lanes. A HOT lane may also draw enough traffic off the congested lanes to reduce congestion on the regular lanes. One of the earliest concepts tested in the VPPP, HOT lanes have now become part of the mainstream of highway projects and such projects may obtain Federal authority to toll under Section 166 of Title 23 United States Code (U.S.C.), i.e., laws pertaining to HOV lanes.
