Note From the Associate Administrator

Office of Operations,
Federal Highway Administration

The Federal Highway Administration’s Office of Operations is pleased to present this report entitled Guide for HOT Lane Development. This new publication is a handbook documenting the collective experience gained from the nation’s initial implemented high occupancy toll (HOT) lane projects. This document was prepared in colaboration with the Federal Highway Administration's Office of Policy, which presently manages the Value Pricing Pilot Program, and in partnership with the firm of Parsons Brinckerhoff.

The HOT lane concept combines managed lanes with variable pricing strategies. As a traffic management tool, it has the potential to help increase the efficiency of some of our most congested urban highway lanes, while maintaining superior travel conditions on the managed lanes to serve transit users, high occupant vehicles (HOVs), and other paying motorists.

Over the past several years, the Federal Highway Administration, through the Value Pricing Pilot Program, has worked with transportation officials around the country as they have studied and implemented the Nation’s first HOT lane projects. Four have been built, and the concept is being given serious consideration in a growing number of locations. The case studies and technical information presented in this guide allow the transportation community to learn from these innovative and successful projects. By sharing comprehensive information on how and why to implement HOT lanes, we hope to build a better understanding of the concept.

We believe you will find this guide to be a useful resource. Our commitment is to continue working with the transportation community to improve mobilty, reduce congestion, and create new travel opportunities in congested areas. The HOT lane concept will be an increasingly important strategy in helping to meet the Nation's transportation needs in the 21st Century.

Jeffrey Paniati
Associate Administrator
Office of Operations
Federal Highway Administration