Using the shoulder to alleviate traffic jams

[jbnv]

I've been thinking about the possibility of allowing traffic to use the shoulder to proceed directly to exits when traffic is backed up or below a certain speed. I experience such backups often in my morning commute, hence the interest. Is anyone actually doing this? I've seen places that open the shoulder to traffic during evacuations (e.g. greater Houston), but don't know of any that allow traffic onto the shoulder during jams.

[kphoger]

Is anyone actually doing this?

I did it briefly this morning on the way to work.   

[jeffandnicole]

I've been thinking about the possibility of allowing traffic to use the shoulder to proceed directly to exits when traffic is backed up or below a certain speed. I experience such backups often in my morning commute, hence the interest. Is anyone actually doing this? I've seen places that open the shoulder to traffic during evacuations (e.g. greater Houston), but don't know of any that allow traffic onto the shoulder during jams.

A few states do this.  NJ has a limited area along NJ 29 (limited access highway; shoulder use is for about 1.5 miles between two interchanges), and US 1 (roadway with traffic lights and driveways/parking lots. 

The most common, most-often referred to example is I-66 in Virginia.

However, it normally needs to be implemented during specific times, not when traffic hits a certain speed or becomes congested.  Too hard to manage those lanes that way.

[Flint1979]

They already have this in places, they are called breakdown lanes.

[US 89]

They already have this in places, they are called breakdown lanes.

Yeah, but you're not supposed to be in them unless you actually break down or have an accident or some other emergency. The OP was referring to driving in these lanes when the other lanes are congested.

[kphoger]

FHWA:  Use of Freeway Shoulders for Travel – Guide for Planning, Evaluating, and Designing Part-Time Shoulder Use as a Traffic Management Strategy

[6a]

A couple freeways in Columbus allow this, but only for buses. I believe I-670 is set to get upgrades to allow all traffic to use the shoulder during jams in the near future. 

[1995hoo]

The I-66 shoulder usage was originally a rush-hour-only thing intended to provide a lane to compensate for the left lane being HOV at that time of day. Over the years, they've gradually increased the permissibility of using it, to the point where nowadays it seems more often than not the green arrow is on to allow use of the shoulder unless there's an incident blocking it. It's really not a great situation at all because vehicles don't necessarily have the decency to wait for the designated "emergency pull-off" areas before breaking down.

Hopefully the problem will go away with the planned reconstruction over the next five years.

I think one of the biggest problems with part-time shoulder lanes is that there will always be jerks who persist in driving in them when they're closed, often at fairly high speeds because they view it as their special shortcut. If you're driving legally and you want to exit at the designated spot, you have to be extremely careful to be sure there's nobody driving illegally on the shoulder before you start to exit (in my observation, the people who ignore the red "X" are, not surprisingly, the same people who don't turn on their headlights when visibility is poor or the sun is setting or the like).

[PHLBOS]

Portions of I-93 & 95 in the Greater Boston area have done such during rush hours; many of those segments no longer allow such due to the roadways have since been widened.  At present & to the best of my knowledge, only I-93 from just north of MA 125 (Exit 41) to just north of River Road (Exit 45) allows for such.

[jakeroot]

WSDOT has implemented shoulder driving north of Bellevue along the 405 headed northbound. This was done to alleviate the evening rush, compounded by the lack of a dual-lane express toll setup (only one lane through this area, unlike the 405 south of this location). The shoulder lane eventually becomes an exit-only lane for I-5, so in a way, shoulder driving for the express purpose of exiting the freeway does sort of exist here.