Bill Aimed at Lanes in Car-Pooling : Seymour Measure Could End Use on Costa Mesa Route

State Sen. John Seymour (R-Anaheim) said Wednesday that he has introduced legislation to regulate car-pool lanes statewide that could eliminate the lanes on the Costa Mesa Freeway.

Under his proposed legislation, Seymour said, the year-old commuter lanes on the Costa Mesa Freeway (Route 55) would have to be widened from 11 feet to 12 feet in order to remain, Seymour said.

“Now, they can go out and buy more real estate (to widen the freeway), but I’m told that may not be possible,” Seymour said.

Seymour said his legislation also sets minimum widths for the buffer zones separating car-pool lanes from regular traffic. The new widths may be impossible to achieve on the Costa Mesa Freeway because state and county highway officials say there’s not enough space.

Minimum Standards

Seymour said the purpose of his legislation is to set minimum standards for so-called high occupancy vehicle lanes, also known as car-pool and commuter lanes.

Orange County Transportation Commission Chairman Harriett M. Wieder, a staunch supporter of car-pool lanes, gave Seymour’s legislation a mixed review.

“At OCTC, we are willing to play by the rules, but at present there is no rule book,” Wieder said. “John wants to have a rule book for car-pool lane standards, and we support this concept. . . . “

But Wieder added:

“I would not support new rules which would force us to restripe Route 55 back to a six-lane rather than an eight-lane facility (thus eliminating car-pool lanes). The preliminary review of John’s bill leads me to believe that may be a distinct possibility.”

Wieder also said, “So far, it does not appear that car-pool lanes, when added to existing freeways, have any significant impact on safety.”

Joe Catron, chairman of Drivers for Highway Safety, a small but vocal grass-roots organization critical of the Costa Mesa Freeway project, said Wednesday that widening the car-pool lanes would not do enough to curtail dangerous lane-switching, nor would increasing the width of the buffer separating the lanes from slower, regular traffic unless the increase is dramatic.

Seymour and Board of Supervisors Chairman Roger R. Stanton are scheduled to discuss the senator’s proposed legislation at a news conference Friday. Stanton could not be reached for comment Wednesday, but his staff said he will support Seymour’s bill.

Last week, the California Department of Transportation announced that it was abandoning efforts to install car-pool lanes on the Ventura Freeway in the San Fernando Valley because of significant opposition.

However, most opponents cited their desires to let all taxpayers use the new lanes rather than citing safety concerns.

Assemblyman Tom McClintock (R-Thousand Oaks) has introduced legislation that would prohibit car-pool lanes except where they have been approved by a two-thirds majority of the county Board of Supervisors. Seymour has not endorsed McClintock’s bill, which is co-authored by Assemblymen Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach) and Gil Ferguson (R-Newport Beach).

The car-pool lanes on the Costa Mesa Freeway extend for 11 miles between the Riverside and San Diego freeways. Similar lanes are scheduled for installation next year on the San Diego Freeway, and eventually on the Santa Ana and Orange freeways.