Toronto, Aug. 31— The best solution for congested highways around Canada’s major cities is the creation of high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes, according to a study from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Congestive Traffic Failure: The Case for High-Occupancy and Express Toll Lanes in Canadian Cities,” author Benjamin Dachis reports that converting carpool lanes into HOT lanes would improve travel time reliability, increase highway capacity and potentially reduce congestion on un-tolled lanes.
“For three of Canada’s largest urban areas, HOT lanes, which usually let high-occupancy vehicles travel for free and charge a toll to other drivers, and express toll lanes could generate total annual revenue of more than $1 billion that could be used to support transportation investments,” states Dachis.
Congestion on Canadian highways imposes significant costs in major Canadian cities, notes the author. The economic burden of traffic congestion – wasted time and fuel – costs automobile drivers in the five largest Canadian urban areas billions of dollars per year, with the highest costs in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton areas. Rather than face the political challenge of introducing road tolls to discourage traffic, however, governments have chosen to build carpool lanes on urban highways, despite evidence that carpool lanes have limited effectiveness in curbing congestion.
Based on an analysis of the benefits of HOT lanes, including the experience of cities where they exist, Dachis concludes governments should convert existing and planned carpool lanes to HOT lanes, giving drivers a choice of whether to use them or to rely on free lanes. This element of choice would be instrumental in overcoming political fears of public opposition to toll lanes, notes Dachis.
Policymakers in major Canadian cities need realistic options for reducing the economic cost of congestion and increasing revenue for transportation infrastructure, he says, converting carpool to HOT lanes would fit those needs.
Click here for the full report.
For more information contact:
Benjamin Dachis,
Policy Analyst,
C.D. Howe Institute,
416-865-1904;
email: cdhowe@cdhowe.org