MTC Updates
Master Plan for Bay Area's Network of Carpool Lanes
To
help ensure that high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes on Bay Area
freeways and expressways achieve their dual goal of relieving
congestion and reducing emissions, the Metropolitan Transportation
Commission (MTC) has released its Draft 2002 High-Occupancy Vehicle
(HOV) Lane Master Plan Update for public review and comment. The
full Commission was scheduled to adopt the plan at its meeting on
Wednesday, February 26.
Also known as carpool lanes or
diamond lanes, the Bay Area's network of HOV lanes has grown more
than five-fold since 1990 to nearly 350 miles. Using input from more
than 5,000 respondents to an online survey conducted in December
2002 and January 2003 - plus a license plate survey of some 1,300
carpool lane users -- the Draft HOV Master Plan Update recommends a
multi--tiered investment program that would add as many as 387 new
miles of carpool lanes around the region by 2025, construct
freeway-to-freeway carpool lane connectors, build new ramps to
provide direct access to and from carpool lanes, add several major
express bus stations to freeway medians, and build more than a dozen
other express bus/park-and-ride stations around the Bay Area. More
than half the funding for these projects already has been committed
in the long-term Regional Transportation Plan or the near-term 2003
Transportation Improvement Program.
In addition to these capital
investments, the Draft HOV Master Plan Update recommends improving
enforcement of carpool lane requirements, expanding express bus
services so HOV lanes carry more people, and taking a look at
opening Interstate 80 carpool lanes to mixed-flow traffic headed in
the off-peak direction during morning and evening commute periods.
Carpool lanes tend to arouse
strong feelings among Bay Area motorists. While one-third of
surveyed respondents strongly oppose carpool lanes on the region's
freeways, 57 percent support them - and the figure climbs to 85
percent among those who use the lanes at least two or three times
per week.
Despite the difference in views on
the current use of carpool lanes, planners forecast that many of the
Bay Area's HOV lanes will become filled to capacity between 2010 and
2025. Strategies for dealing with the crush at that time might
include further increases in express bus service and HOV
enforcement, more metering lights and HOV bypasses at freeway
onramps, or raising carpool requirements from two to three or more
occupants (the level currently in effect along the Interstate 80
corridor). But public opinion is strongly against any proposal to
raise carpool eligibility thresholds anytime soon. When asked the
question, "Would you be willing to see the vehicle occupancy
requirements raised to three or more people if it meant you could
speed up your trip?," a resounding 64 percent of survey
respondents said, "No."
To view the complete Draft 2002
HOV Lane Master Plan Update, visit the MTC web site at www.mtc.ca.gov.