Judge Rejects Challenge to Car-Pool Lanes

An Orange County Superior Court judge Thursday rejected a challenge to the opening of car-pool lanes along a 10-mile stretch of the San Diego Freeway, clearing the way for the long-awaited unveiling.

With the ruling by Judge W. F. Rylaarsdam, officials at the California Department of Transportation announced that the northbound car-pool lane will open at 7 a.m. today and that the southbound strip will open early next week.

The two new lanes, which extend from the Santa Ana Freeway to the Corona del Mar Freeway, connect to an existing 14-mile stretch of car-pool lanes on the San Diego Freeway to form the longest continuous “high-occupancy vehicle” network in the state, Caltrans officials said.

Caltrans delayed the opening of the lanes after Drivers for Highway Safety, an Orange County-based organization that has clashed consistently with the agency, filed a lawsuit April 2.

Drivers for Highway Safety argued that Caltrans had failed to complete the required studies needed before the lanes could go into operation. The group’s primary goal was to block the opening of the car-pool lanes in hopes of forcing Caltrans to allow all traffic to use them.

Members of the organization contend that car-pool lanes, which are restricted to vehicles with two or more occupants, are unsafe because during peak hours they put cars hurtling along at high speeds next to rows of vehicles stalled in heavy traffic. In addition, the group believes the lanes actually cause more congestion by cramming a majority of cars into fewer lanes.