Car-Pool Lane and 55 Freeway

I have served this past 14 months as a member of the Orange County Transportation Commission’s Costa Mesa Freeway Advisory Committee. As your readers are probably aware, the committee voted Jan. 7 to recommend to the OCTC making the car-pool lane permanent. Representing Drivers for Highway Safety, I cast the lone no vote.

Recently, however, the Auto Club of Southern California notified committee Chairman-elect Richard Edgar that its vote in making the diamond lanes “operational” be changed from yes to no.

What is alarming to me is why the Transportation Commission would not consider opening that freeway to general-purpose traffic on all lanes for a short period of time so it could prove beyond a doubt its point that people will be better served with a car-pool lane than if the lane is opened to all traffic.

Commissioner Donald Watson’s (also Caltrans district director) objections were that if the lane was opened for this test, Caltrans would never be able to get it back to resume it as a car-pool lane. A large majority of us that were at that meeting cannot understand the reasoning, unless of course the freeway would be working so well as an open general-purpose roadway. But if this were the case, what would be the point in returning the special lane?

The commission also approved an additional $800,000 car-pool-lane improvement expense. I would think that rational-minded persons would consider thinking twice before spending an additional $800,000 of taxpayers’ money on a freeway car-pool lane that has been proved unsatisfactory, not only by a large majority of the driving public, but also by two members of their own transportation commission.

JOE CATRON,

Chairman,

Drivers for

Highway Safety