Microsimulation-Based Real-Time Congestion Pricing Strategy for Managed Lane

Abstract

A real-time toll that accurately reflects the congestion and delays of a system enhances a high-occupancy toll (HOT) lane system. This paper extends an existing system-optimal real-time congestion pricing strategy by relaxing the assumption of constant capacity, which allows one to implement the strategy on a dynamic microsimulation of the HOT lane, whose capacity and that of general purpose lanes vary because of the weaving activity at the end of the HOT lane. It was found that the proposed model was superior in total delay savings, particularly when bottleneck capacities varied significantly. A clear linear relationship was also found between the pricing coefficient and dimensionless delays and the pricing coefficient and revenue. These findings strengthen the system-optimal linear toll pricing strategy and suggest that departments of transportation can implement practical toll systems that incorporate the real-time discharge rates of bottlenecks.