It’s Time to Use Commuter Lanes

When motorists drive onto the Costa Mesa Freeway (California 55) Monday morning they will find the new express lanes open for use--open, that is, for vehicles with at least two occupants. It’s a welcome innovation in Orange County freeway driving that motorists should waste little time using.

The new commuter lanes, one each running north and south for 12 miles between the Riverside (California 91) and San Diego (Interstate 405) freeways, is an historic first in Orange County. The lanes were added following a study that concluded that ride-sharing vehicles and express buses could carry as many as 140,000 commuters a day, which would save travel time and ease traffic congestion for all motorists, not just those using the commuter lane.

In Los Angeles County the special El Monte Busway lane on the San Bernardino Freeway now carries more people each hour during peak periods than the other four lanes of the freeway combined. And travel time on the eight-mile Artesia Freeway commuter lane, which opened last June and only runs one way, has been reduced by 20 minutes in the express lane and nearly 15 minutes in the regular lanes.

Starting Monday morning Orange County motorists using the Costa Mesa Freeway’s new commuter lanes will have the opportunity to cut their travel time by as much as 25 minutes on a trip between Brea and the John Wayne Airport. It’s an alternate route they ought to take.