question: how is it decided where runaway lanes are placed on highways/interstates?
comment: Just to clarify, are you refering to emergency stopping lanes? There isn't usually a set procedure, it's often decided by risk. Steep hills are particularly dangerous, as are sections with very sharp corners.
passages: The speed limit on the lanes was increased from 55 mph to 65 mph on June 24, 2013, after a VDOT study concluded an increase would not pose a safety risk. Transportation officials said they always expected the speed limit to be increased, but they needed to open the lanes with a 55 mph speed limit to observe how the lanes operated and to assess whether the limit could be increased.
  
  Section::::95 Express Lanes.
   In Virginia, commuters form sluglines where drivers pick up one or more passengers from a designated "slug lines" to drive on HOV lanes along interstate 95/395; the driver pulls over near the sluglines and shouts out their destination, and people in the line going to that destination enter the car on a first-come, first-served basis.
  
  Section::::Compliance, enforcement, and avoidance.
  
  Fines are usually imposed on drivers of non-qualifying vehicles who use the lanes.
   There are two high-occupancy toll (HOT) express lanes at the center of the road. Prior to May 16, 2005, they had been traditional high-occupancy vehicle (HOV, or carpool) lanes, allowing buses, motorcycles and vehicles with two or more occupants to use them during rush hour periods, while single-occupancy vehicles were not permitted. Now, drivers riding alone can use the lanes at any time, but must have a MnPASS electronic toll collection transponder in order to pay for using the express portions.
   At the program's inception, there were thirteen roads with Safe Corridors: U.S. Route 1, U.S. Route 9, Route 10, Route 17, U.S. Highway 22, Route 23, U.S. Route 30, U.S. Route 40, U.S. Route 46, Route 47, Route 73, U.S. Route 130, and U.S. Route 206.
   Most evacuation plans involve only a single state; however, the states of Louisiana and Mississippi have developed coordinated plans to evacuate the New Orleans metropolitan area by using Interstate 55 and Interstate 59.
  
  Current contraflow evacuation plans exist for:
  
  BULLET::::- Alabama
  
  BULLET::::- Mobile via I-65
   Section::::Jurisdiction and Composition.
   Unlike the turnpike projects, the Authority is not limited to the number of managed lane projects it may construct and operate. The authority may also convert lanes that may previously have been designated as high-occupancy vehicle lane (HOV) or other type of managed lanes; provided that such designated does not reduce the number of existing non-toll general purpose lanes. In making such designations, the authority will specify the high-occupancy requirement or other conditions for use of such lanes, which may include restricting vehicle types, access controls, or the payment of tolls for vehicles that do not meet the high-occupancy requirements or conditions for use.
   As of January 28, 2011, penalties for HOV violators range from $125 on the first offense to $250 on the second offense, $500 on the third offense, and $1,000 on the fourth offense. Violators also receive three points on their driving record on the second and later offenses.
  
  Section::::Route description.:Virginia.:Outside the Beltway improvement project.
   If an exception is detected (the tag is invalid (or non-existent) or the vehicle's class (as detected by the lane sensors) does not correspond to the class encoded in the tag, amongst others) the vehicle is photographed and, if there is indication of fraud, a legal procedure is initiated.
   Section::::Projects.:High Occupancy - Toll (HOT) Lane Conversion.
   Safe Corridor
  
  The Safe Corridor initiative is part of an effort by the New Jersey Department of Transportation, and departments from other states, to improve the safety of its roads. Roads with accident and fatality rates above the average may have some of their lengths designated as "Safe Corridor" areas. In these areas, traffic fines are doubled.
   Temporary HOV lanes were added to selections of 400-series highways in the Greater Toronto Area for the 2015 Pan American Games and 2015 Parapan American Games.
  
  Section::::History.:Europe.
   Section::::Environmental factors in transportation.
   The first HOT lane implementation in Canada was along the Queen Elizabeth Way (QEW) freeway in Ontario. Existing high-occupancy vehicle lanes were redesignated as HOT lanes for a stretch of the QEW between Oakville and Burlington. The initial system consisted of $180 permits valid for three months, though HOT lanes with electronic tolling infrastructure were announced as part of forthcoming expansions to Ontario Highway 427.
  
  Section::::Design.
   Since the original portion of the HOV facility opened in the 1970s, an informal car pool system called "slugging" has evolved around the reversible lanes. Drivers of cars with only one or two passengers stop at designated points and pick up strangers in order to meet the HOV-3 requirement. Members of the slugging community contended that if the HO/T lanes were extended all the way to Washington, passenger utilization of the reversible lanes might decline if drivers chose to pay HO/T tolls instead of picking up passengers from slug lines. The impact on the slug lines was not addressed by VDOT or its private sector vendors in the original proposal.
   This is the first time that single-occupancy vehicles can use this stretch of road during these hours since 1982.
  
  See also Interstate 66#HOV designation and rules.
  
  Section::::64 Express Lanes.
  
  The I-64 Express Lanes are a Public-Private Partnership between TransCore and VDOT co convert the 8 Mile stretch of existing HOV lanes to Rush-Hour toll lanes. 
  
  Operating Hours are:
  
  Westbound I-64 from 5-9 AM M-F
  
  Eastbound I-64 from 2-6 PM M-F
   Beginning in the 1970s, the Urban Mass Transit Administration recognized the advantages of exclusive bus lanes and encouraged their funding. In the 1970s the FHWA began to allow state highway agencies to spend federal funds on HOV lanes. As a result of the 1973 Arab Oil Embargo, interest in ridesharing picked up, and states began experimenting with HOV lanes. In order to reduce crude oil consumption, the 1974 Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act mandated maximum speed limits of on public highways and became the first instance when the U.S. federal government provided funding for ridesharing and states were allowed to spend their highway funds on rideshare demonstration projects. The 1978 Surface Transportation Assistance Act made funding for rideshare initiatives permanent.
   Section::::Strategies for implementation.
  
  Strategies for managing lanes typically fall into one of three categories. These include vehicle eligibility restrictions, access control, and pricing. Most managed lane implementation incorporate the application of multiple management strategies. In the United States, managed lanes are almost always located within the right-of-way of freeways, often on the left or "high speed" side of the mainlanes, but sometimes on the right lane or shoulder lane for short distances. Agencies often combine lane management strategies and applications of various intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and traffic control devices to address both safety and operation needs. Examples include:
   BULLET::::- Thomas D. Larson August 10, 1989 – January, 20 1993
  
  BULLET::::- Rodney E. Slater June 3, 1993 – February 14, 1997
  
  BULLET::::- General Kenneth R. Wykle December 2, 1997 – September 4, 2001
  
  BULLET::::- Mary E. Peters October 29, 2001 – July 29, 2005
  
  BULLET::::- J. Richard Capka May 31, 2006 – January 24, 2008
  
  BULLET::::- Thomas J. Madison Jr. August 18, 2008 – January 20, 2009
  
  BULLET::::- Victor Mendez January 20, 2009 – July 24, 2014
  
  BULLET::::- Gregory G. Nadeau July 30, 2014 – January 20, 2017
  
  BULLET::::- Brandye Hendrickson (acting), July 24, 2017–May 6, 2019
   In March 2018, the Task Force Kamao, an inter-agency task force was launched to combat colorum vehicles in the country. Headed by the Transportation Undersecretary and the LTFRB chairman, the campaign aims to conduce anti-colorum operations more effectively by increasing the presence of intelligence in communities. The public may engage in the efforts by reporting colorum vehicles on the Inter-Agency Council for Traffic Facebook Page.
  
  Section::::Initiative and projects.:Public Utility Drivers' Academy Program.
   Section::::Historical development.
   BULLET::::- Eliminate the hiatus period, 1965 to 1968, where compensation was not required, by requiring compensation for any sign "lawfully erected under state law"
  
  BULLET::::- Steady funding
  
  BULLET::::- State and local governments were urged to study on-premises controls
  
  On December 31, 1973, the Commission issued its final report. The report, in addition to the above recommendations, made several suggestions on motorist services information, and recommended that the Secretary have the option of assessing less than a 10 percent penalty.
   The peak periods of these lanes, to maintain a minimum average speed of 45 mph, are: 
  
  BULLET::::- 5:30-9:30 AM Eastbound Monday through Friday
  
  BULLET::::- 3-7 PM Westbound Monday through Friday
  
  During peak periods, if drivers carpool with two or more people (HOV-2), they can travel on I-66 during rush hours for free with an E-ZPass Flex set to HOV mode to travel toll free. This will change to HOV-3 in 2022, when new express lanes open on I-66 between I-495 and University Boulevard and Route 29 in Gainesville.
   BULLET::::- Gloria J. Jeff December 19, 1997 - January 3, 1999
  
  BULLET::::- Dr Walter Sutton Jr (acting) January 3, 1999 - May 3, 2000 May 3, 2000 - January 2001
  
  BULLET::::- J. Richard Capka August 5, 2002 - May 31, 2006
  
  BULLET::::- Kerry O'Hare November 10, 2008 - January 20, 2009
  
  BULLET::::- Gregory G. Nadeau July 8, 2009 – July 30, 2014
  
  BULLET::::- Brandye Hendrickson July 24, 2017 - Present
  
  Section::::Executive Directors.
  
  BULLET::::- Lester P. Lamm August 8, 1973 - ?
  
  BULLET::::- Thomas D. Everett October 22, 2018 - Present
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration
   The first HOT Lanes in the nation to open was the 91 Express Lanes project in Orange County, California, opening in December 1995. A computer adjusts the toll every six minutes, raising it if too many cars are on the highway, lowering it if the highway is underutilized. Even drivers who won't pay the toll appreciate the HOT lanes diverting traffic form the regular highway.
  