San Diego Freeway Will Get Major Car-Pool Link Today

The 14-mile, southbound car-pool lane on the San Diego Freeway between the Corona del Mar (California 73) and San Gabriel River (Interstate 605) freeways will open today, Caltrans officials said Wednesday.

The northbound car-pool lane, which has been opened in stages since last December, will now extend the same distance.

The lanes on the San Diego Freeway are expected to surpass those on the Costa Mesa Freeway (California 55) as the most heavily used in California, in part because regularly scheduled bus service is planned. Only a few charter buses and vans now supplement automobile and truck traffic in the car-pool lanes.

Eventually, county transportation officials hope to link existing car-pool lanes and special busways into a 250-mile, countywide network involving virtually every Orange County freeway and three planned tollways.

All of the car-pool lanes are reserved for vehicles carrying a driver and one or more passengers.

Fines for violating this rule, and for crossing into and out of the special lanes at other than designated entrances and exits, range from $246 for the first offense up to $613.50.

Caltrans spokesman Albert Miranda described today’s lane opening as an opportunity for motorists to gain a “round-trip express ticket in a reserved, uncongested freeway lane.”

Completion of the car-pool lanes from the Corona del Mar Freeway to the juncture of the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways in Irvine is expected next summer.