Lane Management Strategies in a Connected Environment: Analysis of Freight Corridor Scenarios for I-710 in Southern California

Connected vehicles (CVs) and their supporting infrastructure are expected to play an important role in the management of traffic congestion. As highway expansion projects are becoming less common, deploying emerging technologies is essential to make the most of the current road infrastructure. Most published studies report that CVs improve traffic performance only marginally. Here, we propose that CVs drive cooperatively with cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC)-enabled vehicles by designating a CACC lane for periods with high flows of slow-moving heavy-duty drayage trucks. To assess if this approach could help absorb year 2035 projected drayage traffic increases at the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which is the largest port complex in the U.S.A., we analyze three 2035 scenarios for I-710, a key freeway for freight transportation in Southern California: (1) CACC-enabled vehicles are deployed under mixed traffic conditions; (2) CACC-enabled vehicles are restricted to the first lane (left-most lane); (3) the first lane is reserved for CACC-enabled vehicles, and access is optional. Our results suggest that substantial speed improvements can be obtained, but only when the first lane is CACC reserved with optional access, because this approach creates more platooning opportunities and thus helps maximize the benefits of CACC.

Automated summary

Connected vehicles (CVs) and their supporting infrastructure are expected to play an important role in the management of traffic congestion. By designating a cooperative adaptive cruise control (CACC) lane for slow-moving heavy-duty drayage trucks, substantial speed improvements can be achieved.