johnnymk

http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/art...11110369/1007/

The use of high-occupancy lanes on New Jersey roads has never really met expectations in terms of improved traffic flow and an increase in car pooling.

There have been many problems with HOV lanes from the beginning. They once were used on Route 287 and Route 80, but protest from drivers led to them being closed down. The problem is the volume of traffic. Dedicating lanes for less than maximum use at the time of highest occupancy can lead to more traffic backups. Add to that the state expanding the cars that can use the HOV lanes and you have an enforcement nightmare.

Gov. Corzine and the Turnpike Authority announced in April 2006 that hybrid vehicles, with one or two people on board, would be able to use the lanes to travel in the Turnpike's HOV lanes. This was to encourage fuel efficiency, state officials said. Before that rule change, cars in the HOV lanes needed at least three occupants.

That makes policing the lane a little tougher. While the State Police patrol the Turnpike on a regular basis, trying to keep traffic moving remains a difficult task. Thus an accident anywhere along the route can cause the HOV lane to be used by all.

This causes mayhem, especially for bus passengers whose travel planes rarely meet the promises made to ticket buyers during the rush hour because traffic flow is unpredictable.

HOV lanes may not be long for the region anyway. There are currently some 90 lane miles of HOV lanes in the New York region. There are a number of factors influencing the relatively limited application of HOV lanes. The major factor is the extensive rail network in the region, which focuses on the core downtown area. Most access to Manhattan is now by rail, with 74 percent transit share. There also has been opposition to some HOV projects from drivers and in some cases environmental groups.

A recent study by transportation officials in Connecticut found that the 39 miles of high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the Hartford region "are at least 50 percent underutilized" during peak traffic periods. The study, which was filed last March with the federal government, is part of Connecticut's request for federal permission and funding to study the possibility of allowing solo drivers to use the HOV lanes if they pay a toll.

According to the state report, the average number of vehicles using the HOV lane on I-84 east of Hartford during rush hours is only 676, while the HOV lane on I-91 north of Hartford carries only about 662 vehicles per hour during peak traffic periods — far short of the 2,400 vehicles per hour that a single HOV lane has the capacity to carry.

A report by a UC Berkeley computer science and engineering professor, Pravin Varaiya, said that transportation agencies should convert all car pool lanes to general purpose to allow more vehicles on freeways and use sophisticated ramp-meter systems to control capacity. According to Varaiya, such strategies would improve the efficiency of freeways with car pool lanes by increasing speeds in all lanes and moving more commuters.

Last fall, Varaiya embarked on a study of the efficiency of car pool lanes by tallying and analyzing traffic volumes at 30-second intervals, using 26,000 sensors underneath California freeways.

"We've been surprised to discover that some HOV lanes may have the perverse effect of actually adding to congestion," he says.

The bottom line is that the HOV lanes haven't done what was hoped. Public transportation isn't going to get better for this area until some type of rail travel (See MOM line) is available for Ocean and Monmouth county commuters who live inland.

While politicians battle on where that line starts and finishes we all get to sit and watch — while in heavy traffic.

InfiniteNothing

I carpool all the time and agree that they probably do more harm than good. I kinda like how they don't open up for a while so they attract the distance travelers though so maybe they can just open them up to everyone.

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Chgoman

That's what they have been starting to do in Orange County. I really don't like them being open at any time as it seems to lead to people swerving back and forth between the carpool and regular lanes. Carpool lanes can be good when they add a a new lane to the freeway, but when they convert an existing lane, they just slow things down for everyone else.

The question is always does the carpool lane get enough people to carpool and take a sufficient amount of cars off the road or would it be better to have more cars (less carpoolers), but an extra lane for everyone.

uncledaddy

The I-5 between the split and Via de la Valle has carpool lanes going north and south, and like you say, they do no good...well the northbound HOV lane backs up just like all the others about 2:30-6:30pm but its because the Interstate bottlenecks at Del Mar, and seems the southbound doesn't even need a HOV lane.

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