Applications of queuing models to Electronic Toll Collection

Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) via Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) technology has significantly altered traffic operations during toll collection. In particular, the value of the average processing rate of a lane providing both ETC service as well as a traditional service, fluctuates over the rush hour between the average value of the processing rate of the traditional service and the capacity of the ETC service. This study develops a queuing model to address the changing processing rates for the different mixed lanes. The model is applied to the westbound 9-lane portion of the Holland East Plaza in Orlando, Florida. Data is evaluated for 6 different rush hours that include 3 different configuration patterns implemented over a period of 3 years. In the first configuration, only the traditional toll collection services are provided. In another configuration, all traditional lanes become mixed to include ETC except for the center lane, which becomes a lane dedicated solely to ETC service. In a final configuration, two lanes become dedicated to ETC service. A calibration factor between 1.15 and 1.19 corrects the predicted delay. A plaza delay sensitivity analysis is performed on each of the model\u27s input variables