Microscopic operational analysis of HOV lane options for three major expressways in Toronto (Ontario)

High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes have been implemented in North American cities to address soaring congestion problems. Over the past few years, The Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO) has been considering preferential treatment of HOVs to improve mobility in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Accurate estimation of travel time differentials between HOV lanes and the adjacent general-purpose (GP) lanes is important in projecting the potential mode shift from single-occupancy vehicles (SOV) to HOVs. Such accurate estimation requires the use of traffic micro-simulation. In this research, Paramics, a professional microscopic traffic simulation suite, has been employed to develop an HOV lane treatment plan for three freeways in Toronto based on a comparative operational analysis of the base case and HOV lane scenarios. Speed and delay for different vehicle categories were used to measure the effectiveness of HOV lane scenario. Details and results of the analyses are presented in this research.