Since 2007, NYSDOT has been conducting a “Managed Use Lanes” study, aimed at getting the most out of the NYC-area road network without expanding highways. Managed lanes can be as passe as carpool lanes or as high-tech as speed limits that dynamically change if computers sense an accident up the road. They include busways and other transit priority features, as well as road pricing measures like high-occupancy toll lanes. With little news or communication from NYSDOT over the last year, it was unclear what would come out of a study that could, in theory, recommend virtually anything.

But the study appears to have gained some sense of direction, based on a presentation given at a recent stakeholders committee meeting. By November, the study team will release a list of at least five specific projects that can be built within 5 years. By the end of the year, NYSDOT plans to begin preliminary engineering and design on any projects that make it through a round of public hearings.

It’s not clear what these projects will actually be, but the study singles out 18 “high priority” corridors that, based on a detailed set of criteria, could benefit from managed lanes. It also identifies eight “current opportunities” where the MUL study overlaps with other transportation initiatives in the region. These include supporting express bus operations — a recommendation coming out of New York City’s bus rapid transit expansion plans — and opening the Henry Hudson Parkway to small commercial vehicles.

The study goals include “maximize the use of the existing network,” “promote smarter energy consumption,” and “support sustainable land use.” Hopefully that means that a significant number of the projects NYSDOT chooses to advance into design are transit-supportive ones like a continuous bus corridor on the Staten Island Expressway, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, and Gowanus Expressway; or a high-occupancy toll lane on the Long Island Expressway.

The presentation described above will be on NYSDOT’s study website shortly.