A high-occupancy vehicle lane is a restricted traffic lane reserved for the exclusive use of vehicles with a driver and one or more passengers, including carpools, vanpools, and transit buses. These restrictions may be only imposed during peak travel times or may apply at all times. The normal minimum occupancy level is 2 or 3 occupants. Many jurisdictions exempt other vehicles, including motorcycles, charter buses, emergency and law enforcement vehicles, low-emission and other green vehicles, and/or single-occupancy vehicles paying a toll. HOV lanes are normally created to increase average vehicle occupancy and persons traveling with the goal of reducing traffic congestion and air pollution, although their effectiveness is questionable.
The Dartford-Thurrock River Crossing, commonly known as the Dartford Crossing and until 1991 the Dartford Tunnel, is a major road crossing of the River Thames in England, carrying the A282 road between Dartford in Kent in the south and Thurrock in Essex in the north. It consists of two bored tunnels and the cable-stayed Queen Elizabeth II Bridge. The only fixed road crossing of the Thames east of Greater London, it is the busiest estuarial crossing in the United Kingdom, with an average daily use of over 130,000 vehicles. It opened in stages: the west tunnel in 1963, the east tunnel in 1980 and the bridge in 1991. The crossing, although not officially designated a motorway, is considered part of the M25 motorway's route, using the tunnels northbound and bridge southbound. Described as one of the most important road crossings in Britain, it suffers from heavy traffic and congestion.
The Queensway Tunnel is a road tunnel under the River Mersey, in the north west of England, between Liverpool and Birkenhead. Locally, it is often referred to as the Birkenhead Tunnel or Old Tunnel, to distinguish it from the newer Kingsway Tunnel (1971), which serves Wallasey and the M53 motorway traffic.
The Holland Tunnel is a vehicular tunnel under the Hudson River. It connects Manhattan in New York City, New York, to the east, and Jersey City, New Jersey, to the west. An integral conduit within the New York metropolitan area, the Holland Tunnel is operated by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ). The tunnel carries Interstate 78; the New Jersey side is also designated the eastern terminus of Route 139.
The London congestion charge is a fee charged on most motor vehicles operating within the Congestion Charge Zone (CCZ) in Central London between 07:00 and 18:00 Mondays to Fridays. It is not charged on weekends, public holidays or between Christmas Day and New Year's Day (inclusive). The charge came into operation on 17 February 2003. As of 2017, the London charge zone is still one of the largest congestion charge zones in the world, despite the withdrawal of the Western Extension which operated between February 2007 and January 2011. The charge helps to reduce high traffic flow and minimise air and noise pollution in the central London area and raise investment funds for London's transport system.
The Blackwall Tunnel is a pair of road tunnels underneath the River Thames in east London, England linking the London Borough of Tower Hamlets with the Royal Borough of Greenwich, and part of the A102 road. The northern portal lies just south of the East India Dock Road (A13) in Blackwall; the southern entrances are just south of The O2 on the Greenwich Peninsula. The road is managed by Transport for London (TfL).
The Rotherhithe Tunnel is a road tunnel under the River Thames in East London, connecting Limehouse in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets north of the river to Rotherhithe in the London Borough of Southwark south of the river, designated the A101. It was formally opened in 1908 by George, Prince of Wales, and Richard Robinson, Chairman of the London County Council. It is an extremely rare example of a road tunnel where road traffic, pedestrians and cyclists all share the same tunnel bore. Transport for London took over ownership and maintenance of the tunnel in 2001.
Electronic toll collection (ETC) aims to eliminate the delay on toll roads, HOV lanes, toll bridges, and toll tunnels by collecting tolls without cash and without requiring cars to stop. Electronic toll booths may operate alongside cash lanes so that drivers who do not have transponders can pay a cashier or throw coins into a receptacle. With cashless tolling, cars without transponders are either excluded or pay by plate – a bill may be mailed to the address where the car's license plate number is registered, or drivers may have a certain amount of time to pay with a credit card by phone. Open road tolling is a popular form of cashless tolling without toll booths; cars pass electronic readers even at highway speeds without the safety hazard and traffic bottlenecks created by having to slow down to go through an automated toll booth lane.
Carpooling is the sharing of car journeys so that more than one person travels in a car, and prevents the need for others to have to drive to a location themselves.
A rush hour or peak hour is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice every weekday; once in the morning and once in the afternoon or evening, the times during which the most people commute. The term is often used for a period of peak congestion that may last for more than one hour.
The Sydney Harbour Tunnel is a twin-tube road tunnel in Sydney, Australia. The tunnel was completed and opened to traffic in August 1992 to provide a second vehicular crossing of Sydney Harbour to alleviate congestion on the Sydney Harbour Bridge. It is the only tunnel under the harbour, although there are plans to build a set of rail tunnels.
The Dublin Tunnel, originally and still commonly known as the Dublin Port Tunnel, is a road traffic tunnel in Dublin, Ireland, that forms part of the M50 motorway.
The Jack Lynch Tunnel is an immersed tube tunnel and an integral part of the N40 southern ring road of Cork in Ireland. It is named after former Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, a native of Cork.
Lowry Hill Tunnel is a tunnel approximately 1600 ft in length accommodating the Interstate 94 (I-94) freeway near downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota that was completed in late 1971. It is placed at a near-right-angle turn in the highway, forcing the three lanes of traffic in each direction to slow down. The advised speed is 35 miles per hour (56 km/h).
The Cross City Tunnel is a 2.1 km-long twin-tunnel tollway located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, which is operated by Transurban. It links Darling Harbour on the Western fringe of the central business district to Rushcutters Bay in the Eastern Suburbs. The tunnel is actually two distinct tunnels and they largely follow a route underneath William Street and Park or Bathurst Streets, depending on whether it is eastbound or westbound.
The Maastunnel is a tunnel in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, connecting the banks of the Nieuwe Maas. About 75,000 motor vehicles and a large number of cyclists and pedestrians use the tunnel daily, making the Maastunnel an important part of Rotterdam's road network. Building commenced in 1937 and finished in 1942. There was no official opening ceremony, but the Dutch held an unofficial opening ceremony in secret without Nazi participation.
Good to Go, stylized as Good To Go!, is the electronic toll collection system used by the Washington State Department of Transportation on all current toll projects in the U.S. state of Washington. Good to Go customers prepay a balance into an account and the tolls are then electronically deducted as the customer passes through an electronic toll collection location. Vehicles that are not linked to an account are photographed and a toll bill is sent to the registered owner by U.S. mail. The system debuted in July 2007 on the new Tacoma Narrows Bridge and is a part of the high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes on State Route 167, which opened in the spring of 2008. All-electronic tolling began on the SR 520 Bridge on December 29, 2011. The Good to Go system is similar to other electronic tolling technology already in place around the country such as FasTrak in California and E-ZPass in the eastern United States. The fares are a significant profit center for Good to Go's out of state owners.
Motoring taxation in the United Kingdom consists primarily of vehicle excise duty, which is levied on vehicles registered in the UK and hydrocarbon oil duty which is levied on the fuel used by motor vehicles. VED and fuel tax raised approximately GB£32 billion in 2009, a further £4 billion was raised from the value added tax on fuel purchases. Motoring-related taxes for fiscal year 2011/12, including fuel duties and VED, are estimated that will amount to more than GB£38 billion, representing almost 7% of total UK taxation.
A traffic congestion fee will go into effect in New York City by 2021, that will charge vehicles traveling into or within a predetermined area in the Manhattan central business district. First proposed in 2007, this congestion pricing plan was approved and implemented in the 2019 New York State budget. This will be the first such fee scheme enacted in the United States.
Western Scheldt Tunnel is a 6.6-kilometre (4.1 mi) tunnel in the Netherlands that carries highway N62 under the Western Scheldt estuary between Ellewoutsdijk and Terneuzen. It is the longest tunnel for highway traffic in the Netherlands.
