Tag: HOV lanes

convert HOV lanes to Express Lanes

Dan Allison1 Comment

With the establishment of the regional tolling authority, Capitol Area Regional Tolling Authority (CARTA), a joint powers authority (JPA), the opportunity exists for existing HOV (high occupancy vehicle) lanes to tolled lanes, specifically Express Lanes. HOV lanes had their time, but that time is past. HOV lanes are routinely violated. If you stand on an overpass and look down at vehicles in the HOV lane, you will see that many of them are single occupant vehicles, not high occupancy. You could also do the same while driving, but I’d rather you kept your eye on the road. The HOV 2+, used in the Sacramento region, which requires two occupants, is a pretty low bar, but even that is not achieved by many drivers. HOV lanes, being free, also generate no funds to maintain the lanes.

The SACOG region current has about 144 lane-miles of HOV lanes. It has no HOT (high occupancy toll) lanes, and no Express Lanes (all vehicles tolled, though toll may vary with occupancy or time of day). The map below (pdf) shows the existing HOV lanes (blue), and the HOV lane now being constructed as part of the Fix50 project. I have seen a SACOG map of the intended Managed Lane Network, but am unable to find it at the moment.

While the Yolo 80 project initiated the current tolling effort, SACOG in the 2020 MTP/SCS, identified managed lanes as a key component of both managing traffic and paying for maintenance of the system.

The MTP/SCS identifies these policies directly related to tolling:

  • POLICY 11: Initiate a leadership role in testing and piloting roadway pricing mechanisms, such as facility-based tolling and mileage-based fees, in partnership with the state, federal, and local agencies and private sector organizations.
  • POLICY 12: Take steps to implement tolling or pricing of specific lanes on major facilities, such as freeways, to improve traffic management, reliability, and operations of those facilities and to help raise funding for the cost of building and maintaining large capital investments.
  • POLICY 13: All new major expansion projects on the region’s freeways and expressways should be planned for eventual deployment of pricing options to both manage demand and provide a financing mechanism for capital costs. Any pricing strategy pursued should be sensitive to changes in roadway demand during different parts of the day (peak/off-peak) with the objective of managing demand and providing travel choice.
  • POLICY 14: Revenues generated from facility-based pricing should be used to build and maintain a regional network of paid express lanes and, where surplus revenue is available, on strategic transit services (e.g., express buses) or other mobility solutions that can reduce vehicle miles traveled and provide multiple travel options along priced corridors.

SACOG also has Managed Lane Network webpage, which includes Frequently Asked Questions.

I propose that all HOV lanes in the Sacramento region be converted to Express Lanes within a five year period, and that tolling be managed by CARTA. The reason for five years is that it will take about that long to do the public hearings required by law, to purchase and install the tolling infrastructure, and to determine the amount of tolls and any discounts offered for occupancy or time of day.

There are now so may types of vehicles that might lay claim to discounts that it would be better to charge the same for every vehicle. The road mileage charge, which is being considered by the state, could vary by type of vehicle, particularly to charge by weight which directly corresponds to wear and tear on the roadway, as well as the amount of tire and brake dust generated.

Converting HOV lanes to Express Lanes is the first step. The second step is to convert any lanes in excess of two per direction to Express Lanes (the basic two would remain free, for a period of time), and eventually to toll all lanes on all freeways and bridges. Freeways and bridges are incredibly expensive infrastructure to build and maintain, and users of the freeways and bridges should be paying for this, not the general taxpayer, many of whom never drive (though they do derive some benefit from freight traffic).

For additional posts on managed lanes, see category ‘managed lanes‘.

no HOV lanes

Dan Allison2 Comments

HOV lanes are a failure. They save time for the drivers using them, but always less time than was asserted when the project was designed, funded, and built. And they do not save average drivers any time at all. But when added to existing freeways, they certainly cost a lot of money. And they certainly induce a lot more travel, exacerbating climate change, motor vehicle pollution, and damage to the communities through which they pass.

Hwy 50 in Sacramento

Despite this fact, the Hwy 50 project in Sacramento is adding HOV lanes in order to widen the freeway, which will induce more travel, and return traffic to previous or greater levels within a few years, or less. That means accelerated climate change, motor vehicle pollution and noise in the areas through which they travel, and for this particular project, strong discouragement to walkers and bicyclist passing under the freeway, since the undercrossings are very dark and very scary.

Hwy 50 HOV lanes (Fix50) project includes: “Adding Carpool [High-Occupancy Vehicle (HOV)] lanes in each direction on U.S. Highway 50 from east of Watt Avenue to Interstate 5”. HOV lanes would also be added on two on-ramps at 65th Street. I haven’t been able to locate any operational information. Will HOV be weekdays daytime, as in the Bay Area, or full time, as in Southern California?

HOV lane enforcement

Part of the reason HOV lanes have no benefit is that they are violated by many drivers. Though the target violation level is 10% (see below), data from the bay area indicates that violation is often 25%. If you stand on an overpass looking down at a HOV lanes, as I have done, you may conclude that 25% is an underestimate. (Study finds large number of drivers abusing Bay Area carpool lanes)

How Are HOV Lanes Enforced? (Caltrans): “The California Highway Patrol (CHP) is responsible for HOV lane enforcement. The goal is to keep HOV violation rates to less than 10%. Once monitor counts detect violation rates above 10%, District personnel will notify local area CHP of the need for heightened enforcement in a particular HOV corridor. An HOV lane violation ticket is a minimum $490 fine. Fine may be higher for repeat offenders. In addition, at the discretion of the county’s Board of Supervisors, local counties can assess additional administrative fees.”

CHP recently did a maximum enforcement period on Santa Rosa area HOV lanes. These actions are almost always funded by grants from OTS, and are commonly an indication the vehicle code in question is NOT being enforced at other times. CHP officers get paid overtime for these enforcement actions, but they don’t consider these violations are part of their routine activities. (Carpool lane crackdown: CHP writes 72 tickets in a single day, even the boss gets in on the action)

The upshot

HOV lanes are not a solution to anything. They allow Caltrans and other transportation agencies to increase freeway capacity while claiming benefits, while what they do is induce more travel, undoing any possible benefits. There should be no more HOV lanes constructed, anywhere. All existing HOV lanes should be converted to HOT (High Occupancy Toll) or Express tolled lanes.

This includes the new HOV lanes that will open on Hwy 50. They must be converted to toll lanes. The creation of a regional tolling authority would make this easier, though it would certainly be politically unpopular, or at least unpopular with drivers who think everything should be free, and politicians who kowtow to the entitlement of drivers. The legislation which authorizes tollling (AB 194 of 2015) provides that HOV lanes may be converted to toll lanes. The benefits of conversion must be documented, and it appears likely but not certain that it must be approved by California Transportation Commission (CTC).

References

If you search for ‘induced travel hov lanes’, you will find a large number of resource. Many transportation agencies claim a benefit, but no research backs up that claim. Caltrans does not claim a benefit, but does continually build projects despite that.