Increasing Freeway Capacity by Using Safety Lanes as Travel Lanes - a PDH Online Course for Engineers, Architects and Surveyors

Increasing Freeway Capacity by Using Safety Lanes as Travel Lanes

Course Outline

This six-hour online course 1) discusses the concept of shoulder use within the context of active traffic management and summarizes the domestic and foreign experience with this operational strategy and those that are complementary to its deployment; 2) gives a brief overview of the critical issues that need to be addressed when considering the use of shoulders for increasing capacity on congested freeways; and 3) provides case studies of European and domestic applications of shoulder use.

This course includes a multiple-choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

This course teaches the following specific knowledge and skills:

Traffic control devices related to safety lane use;
Performance measures;
Potential safety benefits;
Maintenance concerns;
Enforcement roles and processes;
Incident response;
Training for personnel;
Costs of implementation;
Liability and legal issues; and
Public outreach and education.

Intended Audience

This course is intended for transportation engineers and planners.

Benefit to Attendees

A person completing this course will be familiar with and able to apply principles of using safety shoulders as travel lanes as a method of increasing highway capacity.

Course Introduction

The purpose of this course is to provide a succinct overview of efforts to use left or right shoulder lanes to increase highway capacity. As part of this overview, information related to the impact of shoulder usage on management of the freeway system is presented as well.

Course Content

This course is based on the U.S. Federal Highway Administration Report No. FHWA-HOP-10-023, “Efficient Use of Highway Capacity Summary,” by Beverly Kuhn, November, 2010.

Increasing Freeway Capacity by Using Safety Lanes as Travel Lanes

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Course Summary

This course summarizes the implementation of safety shoulders as travel lanes as a method to increase the efficient highway capacity. Its purpose is to provide a succinct overview of efforts to use left or right shoulder lanes as temporary or interim travel lanes. As part of this summary, information related to the impact of shoulder usage on highway performance, operations, safety, maintenance, enforcement, incident response, and costs are reviewed.

Related Links

For additional technical information related to this subject, please visit the following websites or web pages:

http://ops.fhwa.dot.gov/publications/publications.htm

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.