![]() “Our drivers will figure out how to get to empty lanes.” That, he said, could motivate more people to share rides, achieving the agencies’ goal of reducing the number of cars on the road. Such a project could cost from $329 million to $1 billion.īut some OCTA board members want to avoid having tolled lanes on the county’s freeways – Muller, who is also a Dana Point councilman, said he wants the transportation agencies to also study increasing the threshold for using a carpool lane to vehicles carrying three or more people. By 2035, drivers could be saving up to 11 minutes on general-purpose lanes and up to 43 minutes on tolled lanes, the study said. In late November, Caltrans finalized a study that says tolling carpool lanes on the 5 from Red Hill Avenue in Tustin to the Los Angeles County line could reduce congestion by up to 42%. “In every case, the facility is carrying more people than it would have had the lane either been not tolled at all, or remained a high-occupancy vehicle lane alone.” Turning carpool lanes into toll lanes would help unclog the flow of traffic, including for the rest of the freeway because drivers willing to pay for access would be getting out of the general-purpose lanes, said Martin Wachs, a professor emeritus of urban planning at UCLA. Federal law requires carpool lanes to move at a speed of 45 mph or faster 77% of the county’s carpool lanes don’t meet that standard, OCTA Planning Director Kurt Brotcke said. Officials said carpool lanes in many cases have gotten simply too congested in Orange County. Just last week, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority funded a study for tolled lanes on the 405 Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass. “We can’t just say a high-occupancy toll lane is the solution because everyone is doing it in the country.”Ĭreating tolled lanes on freeways has been gaining traction nationwide and i n Southern California. “If the ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of vehicle trips, then high-occupancy toll lanes don’t help that,” OCTA Director Joe Muller said. Many officials remain skeptical of converting carpool lanes, which in several cases were paid for by the county’s extra half-cent sales tax collected for transportation projects. “They offer many benefits.”īut creating tolled lanes on freeways has often been a political hot potato – OCTA officials spent years debating the 405 ExpressLanes until Caltrans forced their hand in 2014. “Express lanes have proven to be effective,” Caltrans’ District 12 Deputy Director of Planning and Local Assistance Lan Zhou said. ![]() It’s not about the revenue, they said, but about finding help for the county’s congested freeways, especially the carpool lanes. ![]() ![]() OCTA staff has started meeting with local officials to hear their thoughts, and the board in April will discuss which freeways the agency could prioritize. 9, on plans for further exploring an expansion of the county’s network of tolled lanes – it’s unclear now if that would mean a conversion of all or just some carpool lanes. Orange County Transportation Authority board members were briefed Monday, Dec.
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