Highways Agency - Safe roads, Reliable journeys, Informed travellers

3. Objectives of the M1 HOV Pilot

A workshop was held on 6th December 2004, at which the Highways Agency defined the objectives for the M1 HOV Pilot scheme. The overall scheme objective is:

• "To assess the case for further rollout of HOV lanes".

More detailed objectives of the M1 HOV Pilot were also defined at the workshop. These objectives have been reviewed (Rees, 2005). The review also considered the general objectives of major traffic schemes and recommendations arising from a Peer Group review of HA projects (Powell, 2001).

All of the objectives have been classified by type:

• The objectives that may have a direct impact, grouped by subject (Economy, Safety, Environment, Public, Accessibility and Integration).
• The general operation of the scheme. The Pilot scheme will provide information that can be used to improve the operation of the M1 scheme, and also to optimise the design of other HOV schemes.

The subject headings for the objectives that may have a direct impact are as recommended by WebTAG. WebTAG also lists specific Environment, Accessibility and Integration objectives that should be considered as part of any road scheme. These have been considered as part of the review of objectives, although many are not directly relevant to motorway schemes (in particular, the Accessibility and Integration objectives).

The objectives for the M1 HOV scheme are:

• Economy: To maximise person throughput whilst minimising journey time and journey time variability. This overall objective can be broken down as follows:
  1. To reduce congestion by reducing the number of vehicles in the M1 corridor as compared to the estimated number of vehicles that would use this route when widened to four lanes. This will be achieved by encouraging higher occupancy.
  2. To improve journey times of HOVs in the M1 corridor as compared to the estimated journey times if the widened fourth lane was to be used as a normal operating lane.
  3. To improve journey time reliability for HOVs in the M1 corridor as compared to the estimated reliability if the widened fourth lane was to be used as a normal operating lane.
  4. To minimise the delay for non-HOV vehicles in the M1 corridor as compared to the estimated delay if the widened fourth lane was to be used as a normal operating lane.
• Safety: To maintain and where possible improve safety levels in the M1 corridor. This will be compared to the estimated safety levels if the widened fourth lane was to be used as a normal operating lane.
• Environment: To avoid adverse landscape effects. The HOV lane and associated signing should be as unobtrusive as possible. WebTAG also requires noise and emission levels to be considered. The only changes to these as a result of the HOV lane are likely to be associated with changes to numbers of vehicles, and are likely to be very small.
• Public: To improve public awareness of HOV schemes and to establish their benefits, including their ability to influence travel behaviour more generally.
• Accessibility: None.
• Integration: None.
• Integration: None.
• Operational Issues:
  1. To optimise, as far as possible, the benefits from the M1 HOV scheme.
  2. To help to plan any further HOV schemes.
• Business Case:
  1. To assess the case for any further rollout of HOV schemes.
  2. To improve the HA's ability to forecast the effect of any further HOV schemes.

All of the objectives listed above have been reviewed and agreed by the Highways Agency.

The Economy and Safety objectives refer to the M1 corridor because the HOV scheme will not only affect the M1 itself, but also the surrounding area. For example, safety levels on the M1 itself might not improve, but there might be safety benefits on the surrounding network due to traffic being attracted to the M1 rather than using local roads. In that case, the scheme would be likely to show an overall safety benefit.

The objectives listed above are for the introduction of an HOV lane on the M1. The HOV lane will be implemented by widening the M1, but the objectives of the widening itself (e.g. to provide extra capacity) are separate from the objectives of the HOV Pilot scheme, and will be assessed separately as part of the widening scheme. The data collected by the Monitoring Consultant will be a key input to the assessment of the widening scheme.

The detailed objectives can be dependent on the design of the scheme. For example, if it was decided that a permanent 60mph speed limit should be imposed on the M1 J7-10, then it would be more difficult for the scheme to meet its objective of minimising the delay for non- HOV vehicles. On the other hand, the scheme might then be able to achieve a new objective: to reduce noise and emission levels.