Caltrans Touts Success of I-15 Car-Pool Project

New car-pool lanes on Interstate 15 in North County have been so successful that state transportation officials are now considering expanding the system of computer-controlled message signs, pop-up tubes and crossing gates.

“People should give car-pooling a strong consideration because it is the way to get out of the congestion problem,” said Jim Larson, a spokesman for the California Department of Transportation.

The $31.4-million project of automatically reversible lanes, from the junction of I-15 and California 163 to North City Parkway, is unique in the state, he said.

The agency is considering expanding it to include I-5 and a longer stretch of I-15, but no detailed plans have been worked out, officials said.

Meanwhile, building new lanes is not the only solution Caltrans has for reducing freeway traffic. The agency is also proposing that businesses begin shifting starting times for their employees to avoid congestion and paying the parking fees of employees who do car-pool, Larson said.

Since the I-15 lanes opened in October, the idea of saving an average of 20 minutes every morning has been an incentive for drivers of almost 900 vehicles, which have moved from the regular lanes to the car-pooling lanes.

About 3,000 vehicles travel the 8-mile-long lanes during the peak morning hours of 6 to 9 a.m., and 4,000 use them from 3 to 6:30 p.m. That is still only a small percentage of the carrying capacity of the express lanes, said Joel Heaven, chief of the department’s Traffic Systems division.

Heaven estimated that about 2.2 people ride in each vehicle in the express lanes, with many cars carrying 3 or 4 passengers. Buses and van pools are also allowed to use the express lanes.

“Any car pool we can form is a benefit for people,” he said. “You have to realize that a lot of people can’t car-pool, but there is a big percentage who can and don’t want to or don’t have the proper incentives.”

Diane Kern, an executive assistant at San Diego Trust & Savings Bank, said she uses the express lanes every day when she car-pools with her husband or when she takes a bus to work.

Since the express lanes were opened, Kern said, she has cut her commuting time by half.

Eric Johnson, vice president of San Diego Trust & Savings, said that before the express lanes were built, he could be 30 minutes late to work because of traffic.