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Mobility Monitoring – HOV Lanes – Overview
OVERVIEW • REGIONAL TRENDS • ROADWAYS • INTERSECTIONS • TRANSIT
BICYCLE/PEDESTRIAN • HOV LANES • TRAVEL DEMAND MANAGEMENT • PARK-AND-RIDE
Overview • I-93 North HOV Lane Trends • I-93 / Southeast Expressway HOV Lane Trends
MassDOT operates two high-occupancy-vehicle (HOV) lanes in the Boston metropolitan region: a reversible, barrier-separated lane on I-93/Southeast Expressway that connects downtown Boston and Route 3 at the Braintree Split interchange, and a southbound, buffer-separated lane on I-93 North that approaches Boston from the north. The Massachusetts Turnpike Authority (now part of MassDOT) constructed HOV lanes that feed into I-93 and I-90 as part of the Central Artery/Tunnel project. The two MassDOT HOV lanes are monitored by the MPO staff; the Central Artery/Tunnel HOV lanes are not.

The five-mile-long I-93/Southeast Expressway HOV lane has one terminus south of Columbia Road (Exit 15) and another located south of Furnace Brook Parkway (Exit 8) in Quincy, just north of the Braintree Split (Exit 7) and Route 3 (Exit 20). On weekdays (except some holidays), it is open to northbound traffic between 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM and to southbound traffic between 3:00 PM and 7:00 PM. The HOV lane’s contraflow system “borrows” a freeway lane from the general-purpose lanes in the off-peak direction and converts it to a peak-direction HOV lane that is open to carpools (cars with two or more occupants), vanpools, buses, and motorcycles.

The roughly two-mile I-93 North HOV lane runs southbound between the Mystic Avenue on-ramp in Medford and the Zakim–Bunker Hill Bridge after the I-93/Route 1 merge in Boston. This HOV lane is open to vehicles with two or more occupants and to all motorcycles between 6:00 AM and 10:00 AM, Monday through Friday. The lane is open to all traffic at all other times.

Data for each MassDOT HOV lane that are collected quarterly by the MPO staff include passenger counts and travel times on both the HOV lane and the adjoining general-purpose lanes. Click on the links above for trend analyses of each HOV facility.