Skip to agency navigation
Skip to main content

Official Website

of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

    The .gov means its official.

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

    Local, state, and federal government websites often end in .gov. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania government websites and email systems use "pennsylvania.gov" or "pa.gov" at the end of the address. Before sharing sensitive or personal information, make sure you're on an official state website. 

     

    Reserving lanes to minimize congestion during needed road work

    August 11, 2021

    ​As part of its mission to improve transportation statewide, PennDOT is moving closer to adopting a new system to minimize congestion while completing needed repairs to the road and bridge network.

    Known as a Lane Reservation System, the concept began when PennDOT and the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission presented the idea to the State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC) in 2016. Since that initial discussion, interest in the idea grew to include agencies in other states through PennDOT's participation with the Smart Belt Coalition and then over time was reduced back to just PennDOT due to funding constraints resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

    When complete, the Lane Reservation System will be similar to making an online reservation for your favorite restaurant. If you go to OpenTable looking for a 7 p.m. reservation at a popular restaurant on a Saturday night, you're not surprised when you find there are none available. Instead, you may be given other options like a reservation at 4:30 or 9 p.m. PennDOT's Lane Reservation System will perform in a similar fashion for making work zone reservations. If a work crew wants to reserve a lane on Interstate 76 near King of Prussia at 5 p.m. on a Thursday night, they are going to find that reservations are not available. However, they will be able to make a reservation to perform needed road work during off-peak hours as defined in the system.  

    PennDOT will be using various data sources and tools like FREEVAL-PA to determine the most appropriate times to allow work zone reservations. FREEVAL-PA is an innovative analysis tool that will help PennDOT identify and deploy the most effective work zone configurations. This approach will help ensure the safety of the workers, reduce congestion on major roadways, and eliminate conflicts between other work zones in the area. This information can then be shared with others through a standard data feed and will help traffic management centers do their jobs better. 

    The project will be split funded by PennDOT and a federal Advanced Transportation and Congestion Management Technologies Deployment (ATCMTD) grant, and will incorporate a number of preliminary documents and requirements developed in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission. The Lane Reservation System will be built on the platform PennDOT currently uses for command and control of intelligent transportation equipment and will offer users a number of ways to access the system such as PennDOT's Road Condition Reporting System for internal staff, as well as a website and mobile-friendly application for those outside of PennDOT's network.

    The project is currently going through the final IT approval steps and is set to begin this September. Completion is expected by 2022.

    The author, Doug Tomlinson, is PennDOT's Highway Safety and Traffic Operations Chief.

    ABOUT THIS BLOG

    Did you know PennDOT is directly responsible for nearly 40,000 miles of highway and roughly 25,000 bridges? We oversee programs and policies affecting highways, urban and rural public transportation, airports, railroads, ports and waterways, in addition to administering the state's more than 11 million vehicle registrations and 8.8 million driver's licenses.

    So, how do we do what we do? And how can we help you travel in Pennsylvania — whether it be for business or leisure — in safe and enjoyable manner? Read PennDOT Way to learn more about the department, what we do, and how and why we do it.​

    TAGS

    50-Year Anniversary, 511PA, Aggressive Driving, Airports, Autonomous Vehicles, Bicycles, Bridges, Child Safety, Community Relations, Construction, COVID-19, Distracted Driving, District 1, District 10, District 11, District 12, District 2, District 3, District 4, District 5, District 6, District 8, District 9, DOTcom, Driver and Vehicle Services, Emergency Responders, Employment, Equity, FAQ Friday, Human Trafficking, Impaired Driving, Innovations, Live Free Ride Alive, Maintenance Monday, Motorcycles, Older Drivers, PA Motorcycle Safety Program, Pedestrians, PennDOT Connects, Ports, Public Transit, Railroads, REAL ID, Road MaP, Roadside Beautification, Rural Roads, Safety, School Buses, Seat Belts, State Transportation Innovation Council (STIC), Sustainability, Teen Drivers, Throwback Thursday, Transportation Funding, Travel in PA, Welcome Centers, Winter, Work Smart, Work Zone, Yellow Dot

     

    LATEST POSTS

    PennDOT Continues Sharing, Updating Resources for Local Governments to Pursue Bipartisan Infrastructure Law Funding Opportunities
    Norwin High School Wins 2024 ‘Innovations Challenge’
    Demo Complete: I-95 CAP Project in Center City Philadelphia
    PennDOT Archeologist Connects Past, Present, and Future
    Lehigh Valley DUI, Highway Safety Task Force Hosts Law Enforcement Seminar

     

    ARCHIVES

    2024

    2023

    2022

    2021

    2020

    2019

    2018

    2017