Automated Truck Lanes in Urban Area for Through and Cross Border Traffic

Autonomous trucks will soon be operational across our nation’s roadways. Yet, it is unclear how the design of our highway infrastructure should be modified to accommodate autonomous trucks, to enable them to operate in such a way to maximize the economic, capacity and safety benefits. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is proposing to develop and demonstrate, through microscopic traffic simulations, the concept of operations of autonomous truck lanes along the interstate freeways. Using the I-10 Freeway in the El Paso, TX region as the testbed, the research team will: (i) assess the existing structural, geometric and traffic designs in handling fully automated trucks, including the entrances, exits, and connectors; (ii) perform microscopic traffic simulations at critical locations to demonstrate design issues and the recommended design improvements; (iii) conduct a preliminary cost estimation on such infrastructure improvements.