Freeway Access Management Practices in California

Freeway is the type of facility that enjoys the highest level of access control. It serves the main purpose of mobility instead of accessibility. However, due to the ever-increasing travel demand and challenges to building new freeways, the existing freeway facilities are retrofitted with a full range of system management strategies, such as entrance ramp metering and managed lanes, and the consideration of non-motorized travel demand. The implementation of these strategies presented a unique set of access management issues, such as new geometric design standards, and project development policies and procedures. A general introduction of the freeway access management practices in California is presented in this paper, together with the key traffic engineering and design considerations related to ramp metering, managed lanes, and consideration of non-motorized travel demand.