I-80 ‘hot lane’ takes back seat
Paying to drive in the HOV lane not feasible
The new trend in freeway design won’t be coming to Placer County anytime soon. The Placer County Transportation Planning Agency studied and ultimately shot down a proposal that would allow anyone to drive in the car pool lane on I-80 from the Highway 65 interchange to I-5 in Sacramento by paying a toll. The so-called “hot lane” would not have toll booths but rather electronic monitoring like Fastpass to verify if the single occupant vehicle is supposed to be driving in the High Occupancy Vehicle Lane or diamond lane as it is also referred. Right now State Route 91 in Orange County, I-15 in San Diego County and several Bay Area freeways including I-680, State Route 85, I-580 and US 101 either have it or plans are in the works. The purpose is congestion relief and a way to make money. Rocklin resident Kerryn Duncan uses the freeway a lot and said using the HOV lane would help. “There is a lot of congestion but only in certain spots,” Duncan said. “When I am driving into Sacramento no matter what time of day it’s still a problem. I think it would help a lot of commuters.” Longtime Rocklin resident Russell Holland said he would pay $2 to $3 if he needed to use the lane. “They need to open it up more,” Holland said. “We need something out there in both directions.” Wednesday, the transportation agency stamped the plan dead on arrival after a study concluded it wouldn’t make money for about 25 years after it was built. “What a waste of taxpayer money,” transportation agency member and Colfax council member Steve Harvey said. “I’m glad this decision came down that we’re not doing this.” The study projected by 2035 the program would either show a profit of $3.6 million or be in the red by $16.8 million. transportation agency member and Roseville Mayor Gina Garbolino said the uncertainty in the economy makes it virtually impossible to project future revenue to know if the program would ever be solvent. “In the end we decided this is something we didn’t want to focus on right now,” Garbolino said. “But we’re not closing the book. We could decide to look at it again.” Auburnite Paul Beckley who uses I-80 for his business applauded the board’s decision. “It’s a good thing to put it off,” Beckley said. “It sounds like more government.” Auburnite Vince Dileo said with the bad economy he couldn’t stomach any more expenses. “It’s ridiculous. We’re being taxed to death one way or another,” Dileo said. transportation agency officials recommend inaction until I-80 conditions significantly change.
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I-80 ‘hot lane’ projections Fiscal years 2026 to 2035: $10.3 million to $30.9 million in revenue; $27.1 million to $27.3 million in operating expenses Total: $16.8 million loss or $3.6 million profit
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HOV lanes should only be for people who are in a hurry!
peaGravel, that would be everyone on the freeway at any given time.
HOV lanes should be open to all. When they started - the goal was to encourage carpooling. That never happened. Now , it is just a lane that is not used to maximum capacity and to be efficient should just be another lane of traffic open to everyone.
How about this: We should encourage people to work where they live instead of commuting 100+ miles round trip every day. Commuting is wasteful. Money spent burning up your car, the freeway, making more pollution while your at it, and the time you spend in your car that you are not at home and it's stressful. We need to stop building more freeway lanes and work smarter.
If I'm paying for a road, I need to be able to use that road. Enough "social engineering". We, as taxpayers are paying for our roads and we need full access to them.
Cal-Trans is the biggest waste of money in the state, Their should be no new upgrades, new freeways, or remodeling of the freeways until the states financial problems have been solved.
I'm glad their there'll be no changes to the HOV lane. The concept behind it is to cut down on the vehicles on the road, lessen pollution & lower gas consumption which all worthy goals...it was not meant to be a cash cow.
You are a taxpayer who wants to use it?...then carpool.
The state would make money by catching the abusers of the carpool lane. My husband and I are in the carpool lane 5 days a week, a.m. and p.m. rush hours. When the carpool lane on I-80 first opened, CHP were lingering on the left shoulder of the lane to keep an eye on cars. Now, we RARELY see any CHP cars on the freeway. I realize there are tons of accidents during rush hour, but do we really need 3-4 CHP's assisting to a 2-car fender bender?
Man, I gotta start proofreading.
Build State and Federal Office Buildings in Placer County. Most of these employees live here anyway. Encourage State and Federal government employee telecommuting. Have more furlough Fridays.
Car pool lanes are a waste of freeway dollars for most. Carpooling forces you into a set schedule (no last minute chores around the house), limits your ability to run lunch time errands and prohibits you from working extra hours or leaving early. Why they thought this was a good idea is beyond me. What we need is better mass transit options like forcing Amtrack to stop in Auburn or creating more light rail routes. A paid lane is interesting but will likely even further limit usage.
CattleRancher: Yes, that's why it takes some sacrifice.
A class settlement agreement has been reached that will limit current and future claims of individuals with mobility and/or vision disabilities against the California Department of Transportation (“Caltrans”) on the basis that Caltrans has discriminated against individuals with mobility and/or vision disabilities by denying such individuals access to sidewalks, cross-walks, pedestrian overcrossings, pedestrian undercrossings, other outdoor pedestrian walkways (“pedestrian facilities”) and Park and Ride facilities owned or maintained by Caltrans. THIS SETTLEMENT WILL EXTINGUISH AND/OR BAR PAST, PENDING, AND FUTURE CLAIMS/LAWSUITS FOR INJUNCTIVE OR DECLARATORY RELIEF WITH RESPECT TO THE ACCESSIBILITY OF ALL PEDESTRIAN FACILITIES AND PARK AND RIDES OWNED OR MAINTAINED BY CALTRANS. Objections to this class settlement agreement must be filed no later than March 30, 2010.
Ride a motorcycle if you commute alone and want to use the HOV lanes. That's what I used to do, saved me from lane splitting and is totally legal and bikes get a heck of a lot better gas mileage too.
Commute traffic is commute traffic until we are flying in vehicles like in star wars movies not much will help...except...(climbing up on my soap box)...
Traffic in California might not be so bad if people were ticketed for using the fast lane for anything other than passing. CA drivers just sit in the fast lane and middle lanes because they are either to stupid, or lazy to get over to the right and get out of the way of other faster drivers.
Maybe instead of charging people for driving in a toll lane we should just eduacate people on how to use a freeway.
mcandler...Your plan to ticket fast lane drivers will never work....it's never legal to drive faster than the posted limit...in any lane.
So you want to ticket drivers going 65 in the fast lane for impeding lawbreakers?
DUH.....yup, everyone is in a hurry, we pay taxes for the whole road, HOV lanes are a failure, a waste of paint, signs and money. Just open it up to every one.
Practice Birth Control