Knowledge Resources

In March 2001, the I-95 Corridor Coalition approved funding for an ETC/E-Screening Interoperability Pilot Project for regional interoperability between ETC and E-screening. The long-term goal was to provide a model for national interoperability of Short-Range Communication Standards (DSRC) applications. The project combined testing a single dual-mode DSRC transponder for both ETC and E-screening, and developing administrative and organizational structures to support interoperability beyond the Pilot Project. The Pilot Project’s intent was to coordinate the Northeast’s interoperable ETC program, E-ZPass, with the CVISN E-screening deployments planned by Maryland and Connecticut. The Pilot Project was designed as a series of five incremental builds to incrementally establish functionality and address institutional and technical challenges that could potentially impact interoperability.

RESULTS

Given the current and projected large volumes of commercial vehicle travel through the I-95 corridor states, private-sector benefits from electronic toll collection and E-screening are and will continue to be realized primarily through travel time savings.

• Interoperable applications incorporated into a single transponder can save carriers between $0.63 to $2.15 per event at weigh stations. The greater the number of interoperable applications incorporated into a single transponder, the greater the benefit.

The estimated benefits realized by industry through participation in ETC and E-screening, when combined through interoperability, double in value. These benefits will be realized through reduction in expected en route delays at the toll facilities and at weigh stations along the corridor. The benefits were estimated using an identified value of time for a commercial vehicle, defined as $71.05 per hour (1) (or equivalent to $0.0197 per second). Monetized estimates (motor carrier operational efficiency) were developed for the projected time savings by applying the identified value of time to the observed time savings. The result of this value of time was then extrapolated to the larger universe of transactions at the toll facilities and weight inspections in the three target states (Connecticut, Maryland, and New York).

• For toll facilities, average travel time savings ranged from 13 to 55 seconds per transaction, with a simple unweighted average of 30 seconds time savings, valued at $0.59 per event.

References

(1) The 2004 Urban Mobility Report, David Schrank and Tim Lomax, Texas Transportation Institute, The Texas A&M University System, September 2004. Accessed from: http://mobility.tamu.edu.