  Traffic simulation is a cost-effective way to test the deployment of
Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) vehicles in a large-scale
transportation network. By using a previously developed microscopic simulation
testbed, this paper examines the impacts of four managed lane strategies for
the near-term deployment of CACC vehicles under mixed traffic conditions.
Network-wide performance measures are investigated from the perspectives of
mobility, safety, equity, and environmental impacts. In addition, the platoon
formation performance of CACC vehicles is evaluated with platoon-orientated
measures, such as the percentage of platooned CACC vehicles, average platoon
depth, and vehicle-hour-platooned that is proposed in this paper under the
imperfect DSRC communication environment. Moreover, managed lane score matrices
are developed to incorporate heterogeneous categories of performance measures,
aiming to provide a more comprehensive picture for stakeholders. The results
show that mixing CACC traffic along with non-CACC traffic across all travel
lanes is an acceptable option when the market penetration (MP) is lower than
30% for roadways where a managed lane is absent. Providing CACC with priority
access to an existing managed lane, if available, is also a good strategy for
improving the overall traffic performance when the MP is lower than 40%. When
the MP reaches above 40%, a dedicated lane for CACC vehicles is recommended, as
it provides greater opportunity for CACC vehicles to form platoons. The
facilitation of homogeneous CACC traffic flow could make further improvements
possible in the future.
