Leveraging Dynamic Right-of-Way Allocation and Tolling Policy for CAV Dedicated Lane Management to Promote CAV and Improve Mobility

With the capability of communicating with surrounding vehicles and infrastructures, connected and automated vehicles (CAVs) can safely drive closer with reduced headway, thereby potentially improving traffic efficiency. However, their superiority is compromised in the mixed traffic environment because of the interruption of human-driving vehicles (HDVs). In this circumstance, researchers proposed to physically separate CAVs and HDVs by deploying CAV-dedicated lanes (CAV-DLs). Nevertheless, the CAV-DLs may be underutilized, especially in low CAV penetration rate (PR) cases which may even reduce traffic efficiency. To solve this problem, two novel strategies were proposed in our study to better manage the CAV-DLs and magnify the benefit of CAVs: The first one is to dynamically allocate the right-of-way for CAV-DLs based on the predicted CAV-DLs’ effective utilization rate so that the HDVs can be allowed to use the dedicated lanes when they are not adequately occupied. The second strategy is motivated by the economic instrument, which allows HDVs to use the CAV-DLs by paying a toll. The toll is determined by the travel time difference between CAV-DL and general lane (GL), and these tolls can be utilized as subsidies to stimulate drivers to purchase CAVs for promoting their adoption. The two strategies were evaluated using the case study designed based on the network of Edmonton downtown area in Canada, and the results demonstrated that both methods can significantly reduce travel time. Besides, the two strategies were compared comprehensively in terms of their effectiveness and policy enforceability, which can provide some guidance for both traffic policymakers and practitioners.