{"id":20348,"date":"2016-11-18T17:49:17","date_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/digital.hbs.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-costanera-norte-is-increasing-highway-capacity-without-building-new-roads\/"},"modified":"2016-11-18T17:55:06","modified_gmt":"2016-11-18T22:55:06","slug":"how-costanera-norte-is-increasing-highway-capacity-without-building-new-roads","status":"publish","type":"hck-submission","link":"https:\/\/d3.harvard.edu\/platform-rctom\/submission\/how-costanera-norte-is-increasing-highway-capacity-without-building-new-roads\/","title":{"rendered":"HOW COSTANERA NORTE IS INCREASING HIGHWAY CAPACITY WITHOUT BUILDING NEW ROADS"},"content":{"rendered":"

As big and important cities\u2019 population grows every year, transportation becomes a key issue. \u00a0Adding to this is the increasing income of the population and the decreasing prices of cars, multiplying the number of vehicles on the road year by year. Cars on English roads grew by 600,000 in one year (2.4% increase) (1), and growth in developing countries is even faster.<\/p>\n

To face the challenges that this effect poses, governments have to deal with limited options to address the issue. This usually comes in the form of building new highways, a very high investment, particularly for emerging countries in which the growth in car ownership is the highest and resources are scarce.<\/p>\n

One potential, and more cost-effective, way to attack this problem is Electronic Toll Collection (ETC). ETC is the process by which highway tolls are collected electronically from the drivers passing through a certain point. Although the main objective of implementing this system is initially to reduce travel time, there are many other benefits that come with this model.<\/p>\n

The system works with gates located along the highway (or at the exits), and this gates connect through a signal to a device (transponder) usually located on the vehicle\u2019s windshield. Although this system has existed for a long time, it has recently become more widely used worldwide and efficient enough to allow cars to go through the gates at full speed; in 2004 Chile implemented the world\u2019s first full speed ETC.<\/p>\n

\"untitled\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By using ETC, an operator is able to increase traffic flow in almost 5 times compared to traditional manual toll collection (2). This means huge amounts of savings for governments in terms of investments that can be allocated towards other under covered areas such as health or education. These savings are amplified by the fact that ETC facilitates concession from the private sector, such as Costanera Norte, so the government investment is even lower.<\/p>\n

Private investors are more likely to operate a highway with ETC because this system allows for better and easier payment collection, reduces cash handling by toll operators (which also reduces the potential for robbery, frequent in some countries), and cost reduction. ETC provides savings of $40,000 per lane for equipment costs, plus $135,000 per lane in annual operation and maintenance (3). In addition, the ability of ETC to increase capacity means that more vehicles can go through the highway in the same time, which translates into the operator making a higher revenue for the same investment when compared to manual toll.<\/p>\n

But not all the benefit is for the government and operators. ETC reduces congestion by not having cars stop in the middle of the road. Aside from the psychological benefit to drivers, this also means considerable time savings (4) and a reduction in fuel consumption by as much as 12% (5). This last point also translates in a reduction of emissions and pollution. Additionally, just like Uber adds value by linking the account to a credit card to which the trip is automatically charged, ETC allows for flexibility in terms of payment for the driver.<\/p>\n

On another hand, ETC allows operators to track every vehicle that goes through a gate, with the system being able to read and determine license plates. This makes possible for the operator the determine if drivers go through the highway without a transponder, and take the actions needed to charge for the service. This information is also used to collect data on traffic, directions and times of higher congestion. This information can be used by the company for vehicle count and others, as well as by the government to help in their implementation of different actions. In addition, the information is used to reduce traffic in peak hours by increasing tolls.<\/p>\n

Despite all the benefits for investors, society and the environment mentioned above, there are still ways in which this system can improve and help drivers as well as the community. One way is finding a way to efficiently determine when a car goes over the speed limit, so a speeding ticket can be issued, and help reduce the number of accidents. Although implementation of a system that determines the time it took a vehicle to go from one gate to another to get the average speed has been discussed, this system doesn\u2019t allow to determine the actual speed of the car. On another hand, having gates in each entrance and exit instead of along the highway can help in more efficient and fair pricing of each driver compared to the system now, in which every car that goes through a gate pays the same amount independent of the distance travelled to reach that gate.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

(word count: 777)<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n