Hill and Smith claim NJ pilot success

First published at ITS America - June 7, 2019

Hill and Smith recently conducted a hard shoulder running (HSR) pilot on a stretch of Route 1 in New Jersey, finding that opening up the shoulder for traffic during peak periods shortened average travel time by half while reducing traffic accidents.

The pilot was conducted over a two-mile stretch in South Brunswick Township in central New Jersey over two weeks.

After making road improvements that included repaving and restriping, the New Jersey DOT opened the shoulder to traffic during the morning and afternoon commutes and collected traffic count data with a series of remote traffic microwave sensors. The data was then compared to historical traffic counts from the same dates in 2013, 2014 and 2015 that were collected using similar methods.

The pilot found that opening up the shoulder to traffic during peak hours would save 518 vehicle hours per day and 129,500 vehicle hours per year—resulting in $2.4 million user cost savings. At the same time, it would reduce carbon emissions by 19,015 kg, gasoline by 19,417 gallons and diesel by 4,280 gallons.

As a result of the reduction in rear-end crashes, yearly crash costs would go down by more than $200,000.

Given the $5.26 million price tag to make improvements and maintain the road over 20 years, the project would result in an estimated net savings of $15.3 million.

Booth 446