User:Tonytx05

Houston HOV/HOT Lane Implementation

The goal of this page is to communicate proper mapping of high occupancy vehicle and high occupancy toll lanes (HOV/HOT lanes) in the Houston area. As Waze does not fully support HOV lanes as of yet, this implementation accomplishes the following goals:

1. Allows drivers to use the HOV/HOT lanes as toll routes during the allowed times
2. Prevents HOV drivers who have manually routed into the HOV lanes from being improperly routed out of them
3. Lays the groundwork for full HOV support when Waze implements support for different vehicle types in the app

More details about the currently enforced hours and HOV/HOT lane routes are available here: http://www.ridemetro.org/Pages/HOVandHOTLanes.aspx.

General Rules

1. HOV/HOT lanes should be of the same road type as the road they travel alongside. There should be no preference or penalty for routing on the HOV/HOT lane based on road type.
2. If applicable, only entrance ramps should have the toll flag set. This prevents drivers with toll avoidance enabled from being routed into the HOV/HOT lanes. It also allows an HOV driver with toll avoidance enabled that has manually driven into the HOV/HOT lanes from being prematurely routed out of the HOV/HOT lanes if the toll flag were set on the main HOV/HOT lanes or exit ramps.
3. Some HOV/HOT lane routes allow only HOV drivers with a minimum number of passengers during certain hours. These are known as "2+" or "3+" drivers, and reflect the required minimum number of passengers during the restricted hours. These restrictions should be specified on the entrance ramps only.
4. HOV/HOT lane restrictions on the main lanes should only be set up on two-way segments. This prevents routing the wrong direction, such as routing outbound during the morning inbound hours. Main lane restrictions should always be total restrictions and not vehicle specific.
5. No restrictions or toll flag should be set on exit ramps

Special Cases

T Ramps

HOV T Ramp Overview

HOV T Ramp Detail

HOV Split Entrance/Exit

T ramps have a single entrance/exit that connects to surface streets and splits into separate inbound and outbound segments where it connects to the HOV/HOT lane. Special care must be given to these ramps in order to provide proper routing and TTS instructions:

• A divided one-way section should be placed at the beginning of this ramp configuration, with the toll flag set only on the inbound segment
• All segments leading up to the split should be unnamed. Turn instructions will pick up the segment names following the split.
• The segments following the split should be further split into a segment entering the HOV/HOT lane and a segment exiting the HOV/HOT lane
  • Each segment should be named to match the respective ramp signage (ramp names are not shown in-app, so these extra segment names do not contribute to map clutter)
  • The segment entering the HOV/HOT lane should be the only one with restrictions, and only in the direction going towards the HOV/HOT lane

T Ramp Example

Split Entrance/Exit

A Split Entrance/Exit utilizes divided one-way segments to provide proper routing for entering and exiting the HOV/HOT lane. In this example, the one-way entering the HOV/HOT lane has the toll flag and vehicle restrictions set. The one-way leaving the HOV/HOT lane has no restrictions. Only the one-way segments are named to provide turn instructions entering or exiting the HOV/HOT lane, all segments leading to and away from the one-way segments should have street name set to "None".
Split Entrance/Exit Example

Current HOV/HOT Lane Timings