By Susanna Ray
Herald Writer
The hard data came in Thursday on exactly how much better life is in the HOV lanes.
Carpooling commuters are shaving anywhere from four minutes to 19 minutes a day off their road time.
State officials found, for example, that carpoolers saved 11 minutes in their round-trip commute on I-5 from South Everett to Northgate and six minutes from Southcenter to downtown Seattle.
The information was collected last year as state officials study whether to open up high-occupancy vehicle lanes to all traffic during some off-peak hours.
State transportation officials gave their first status report Thursday to the Washington State Transportation Commission, the seven-member citizens board that directs the Department of Transportation.
Final recommendations to the commission are due next month.
State officials used data collected last year from wire sensors under the highways to study seven sections of the state’s HOV lanes.
Carpoolers are saving 19 minutes on I-405 from Mill Creek to downtown Bellevue and back, and 18 minutes round trip on I-405 from Tukwila to I-90. Commuters save four minutes round trip in the I-90 carpool lane from Issaquah to downtown Seattle, eight minutes round trip on Highway 520 from Bellevue Way to the floating bridge deck, and 10 minutes round trip on Highway 167 from Auburn to Renton.
"I almost feel kind of silly bringing this up, but it is a point that freeways with HOV lanes are congested," Charlie Howard, the director of the department’s policy and planning office told commission members Thursday in Olympia. "HOV lanes were put into congested corridors, and there’s a reason for that, and they are meant to provide transit and other high-occupancy vehicles with a fast route through congested corridors."
But the lanes are basically empty after about 8 p.m., he noted.
That’s one of the reasons single drivers have clamored to open the lanes to general traffic during off-peak hours. It’s something the commission decided against two years ago.
About 10 percent of the 2,000 miles of carpool lanes in the nation are in the Puget Sound region. This area is one of only a few urban regions that have such an extensive network of carpool lanes. There are comparable HOV systems in Los Angeles, Atlanta, the San Francisco Bay area, Phoenix and Dallas.
Some of those regions allow solitary drivers in the carpool lanes during off-peak hours and weekends. But most have kept their lanes restricted 24 hours a day, the study found, although each region has had similar debates about opening them up.
"There’s lots of discussion about it, but nobody’s changed it yet," said state traffic engineer Toby Rickman.
Money would be one impediment to change.
New signs for opening up the lanes during off-peak hours would cost the state about $2 million, according to the study. If they decide to make the hours variable, such as opening them during off-peak times except when there’s an accident or congestion due to a special event, they’d have to come up with $55 million for new electronic signs.
Officials hope to have reports by the end of the month on what the public thinks about the whole thing, on the environmental impacts of HOV lanes, and on design issues, since many HOV lanes are simply restriped shoulders not built to withstand the heavy load of regular traffic.
Even if the commission decides to change the lane usage, they wouldn’t open right away. The Transportation Department would still have to get permission from the Federal Highway Administration, then figure out where to get the money to change the signs, and then do the actual work of changing the signs and informing the public.
You can call Herald Writer Susanna Ray at 425-339-3439
or send e-mail to ray@heraldnet.com.
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