Washington Division

711 S. Capitol Way, Suite 501, Olympia, WA 98501 Phone: 360-753-9480, FAX: 360-753-9889 Washington.fhwa@fhwa.dot.gov

Washington Divison

U.S. Department Washington Division Suite 501 Evergreen Plaza
of Transportation 711 South Capitol Way
Olympia, Washington 98501-1284
Federal Highway (360) 753-9480
Administration (360) 753-9889 (FAX)
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/wadiv

June 11, 2003

734.212
Mr. Douglas B. MacDonald
Secretary of Transportation
Department of Transportation
Olympia, Washington

Attention: Toby Rickman
Eastside Freeway HOV Hours of Operation Pilot Project

Dear Mr. MacDonald:
Your April 7, 2003, letter transmitted the final version of the project documentation and evaluation plan for the Eastside Freeway HOV Hours of Operation Pilot Project for our review and approval. This project documentation and evaluation plan is the culmination of many months of work by the Department. We would like to express our appreciation for the efforts members of your staff made to involve our office from the outset of this endeavor. In particular we would like to thank Charlie Howard, Charles Prestrud, Dave McCormick, Mark Leth, Leslie, Forbes, Dick Albin, and Scott Zeller for keeping us informed and involved. This involvement has enabled us to express our concerns and have them resolved early. It also expedited the review of this document. The FHWA approves the temporary modification of the 24/7 HOV Policy on I-405 and I-90 for this pilot project.

The Pilot will modify the operating policy to allow general-purpose vehicle use of the HOV facilities between 7 pm and 5 am on portions of I-405, I-90, SR 167, and SR 520. High Occupancy Vehicle direct access ramps will remain restricted to HOV only, 24 hours a day. From the beginning of our discussions with your staff, we have expressed our concern for the potential operational/safety problems and the potential for disruption of transit service at the direct access ramps. These left-on and left-off ramps are exceptions to design standards and prompted our offices to cooperatively develop WSDOT publication M 22-98, HOV Direct Access Design Guide. Allowing general-purpose traffic into the HOV lanes violates the assumptions made in the development of M 22-98. This concern will have to be satisfactorily addressed before we will consider extending the pilot or making the change permanent at the end of the 2-year period.

Prior to the change in operating policy, the Department will implement a number of safety improvements to mitigate the potential reduction in safety caused by having additional vehicles traveling in the left-most lane of a freeway which results in a reduced recovery distance for those vehicles and a possible increase in crashes if left unmitigated. All of the proposed safety improvements on the Interstate routes must be completed prior to opening any section of HOV lane to general-purpose traffic.

To measure the effects of the new HOV lane operation, the WSDOT is committed to conducting a comprehensive evaluations of the following basic measures of effectiveness: 1) Vehicle occupancy study; 2) Traffic evaluation; 3) Safety evaluation; 4) Enforcement evaluation; 5) Air quality evaluation; 6) Opinion surveys; and, 7) Direct access and freeway-to-freeway evaluation.

We understand that the Department will be making quarterly progress reports to the Transportation Commission on the pilot. We would appreciate receiving copies of those reports so that we can monitor the progress of the pilot. While the Department does not anticipate any adverse conditions that would require the abandonment of the pilot it is our expectation that the safety of the motoring public will not be compromised. Federal Highway Administration approval is required should the Department decide to modify the pilot prior to its conclusion, continue the pilot, or permanently change the hours of operation on I-405 or I-90 at the conclusion of the pilot.

Please contact Michael Brower at (360) 753-9550 or Don Petersen at (360) 534-9323 if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Daniel M. Mathis
By: Donald A. Petersen
Senior Geometric and Roadside Design Engineer

CC: Dave McCormick
Mark Leth

United States Department of Transportation - Federal Highway Administration