SHERMAN OAKS : Chamber Seeking to Restore Car-Pool Lane

Decrying the loss of a recently discontinued car-pool lane for Valley commuters headed home from the Westside over the Sepulveda Pass, Sherman Oaks Chamber of Commerce officials are asking the city to restore the lane and make it available to all motorists.

Chamber President Jeff Brain said Wednesday that he would call on Los Angeles City Councilman Zev Yaroslavksy for assistance in getting the lane back.

“This was really beneficial to Sherman Oaks residents,” Brain said.

Besides appealing to Yaroslavsky, he said the chamber’s Governmental Affairs Committee is studying strategies for getting the lane restored and plans to lobby transportation officials.

Beginning in 1991, traffic cones were used to create a northbound lane for about a mile on southbound Sepulveda Boulevard between Mountaingate and Mulholland drives, giving homeward-bound car-poolers and buses a clear path to the Valley every weekday from 3 to 7 p.m. But this month Los Angeles transportation officials suspended the pilot program, saying the few cars using the lane do not justify the $267,000 annual cost of the three-person crew that set up, maintained and removed the cones.

Although no final decision has been reached on the program, transportation officials said it is unlikely to be revived.

But Brain said the program deserves a second look.

“I think it’s worth being looked into,” he said, “not only whether we can get it replaced, but why it cost so much in the first place.”