Eco-Lanes: A flexible lane management scheme for enhancing traffic efficiency and promoting eco-friendly commuting

Yu Chen, Wei Wang and David Z.W. Wang

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, 2025, vol. 195, issue C

Abstract: Existing high-occupancy vehicle lanes and other managed lanes typically cater to a single vehicle type, leading to suboptimal utilization. A new lane management scheme, termed eco-lanes (ELs), is introduced in this study to provide a more flexible operational framework, enabling authorities to designate various vehicle access types across different road segments. We conceptualize ELs as instrumental in enhancing traffic flow efficiency and promoting the adoption of eco-friendly commuting practices. To assess the quantitative impacts of ELs on commuters’ mode and route choices on network operations, a combined mode split and traffic assignment (CMSTA) model is developed, where a cross-nested logit (CNL)-based multi-mode passenger assignment model addresses route overlapping, and a nested logit (NL)-based mode split model accounts for the hierarchical choices of vehicle type (manual driving or auto driving) and commuting modality (driving alone or shared mobility). Formulated as an equivalent variational inequality (VI) problem in path-flow space with asymmetric link impedance functions, its equivalence is established. A new iterative solution algorithm integrating route-swapping, mode-swapping, and weighted adaptive self-regulating average techniques is developed to efficiently tackle the CMSTA problem. By reformulating the CMSTA as an equivalent nonlinear programming (NLP) problem and taking the multimodal stochastic system optimum (MSSO) as the objective, we further propose a mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) for optimal EL network design. Numerical examples demonstrate the effectiveness of the EL scheme in mitigating congestion, not only optimizing network flow but also promoting eco-friendly mode shifts.

Keywords: Eco lane; Combined mode split and traffic assignment; Multimodal network design; Cross-nested logit; Mode-swapping and route-swapping; Weighted self-regulating average; Autonomous vehicle (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856425000862
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:transa:v:195:y:2025:i:c:s0965856425000862

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2025.104458

Access Statistics for this article

Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice is currently edited by John (J.M.) Rose

More articles in Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().