Will Reversible Lanes Ease Congestion?

Dear Traffic Talk:

With many people interested in plans for the Antelope Valley Freeway, I was wondering if transportation officials have considered a reversible expressway similar to the one on Interstate 15 near San Diego?

This would be perfect for the Antelope Valley Freeway, which is used heavily southbound toward Los Angeles in the morning and northbound during the evening rush hour.

It works fine in San Diego.

Walter Studhalter,

Woodland Hills

Dear Walter:

The lanes do indeed work fine in San Diego--but modern traffic miracles they’re not, according to the CHP there. More on that later.

Reversible lanes--which ferry traffic in one direction during certain hours of the day and in the opposite direction during other times--are only effective when there is a “pronounced” difference in the number of cars moving in each direction, said Caltrans spokeswoman Pat Reid.

The ever more populated Antelope Valley Freeway, she said, could be a candidate someday, but currently has a relatively large number of cars whizzing happily north, say, when the serious rush is going the other way.

Work is currently underway on two projects to widen the freeway and add carpool lanes, Reid said.

By 2000, construction will be completed on four widening projects at a total cost of $134 million.

A 35.9-mile carpool lane will be added in each direction from the Golden State Freeway near Santa Clarita to Avenue P-8 in Palmdale.

Meanwhile, our commuting friends in San Diego enjoy two diamond lanes that run down the center of the 15 freeway.

In the morning, southbound travelers have the lanes all to themselves, said CHP Sgt. Steve Deck. In the evening, northbound commuters get them.

Only one problem: “There’s still bumper-to-bumper traffic,” Deck said. “Who knows how much worse it would be if they weren’t there?”

Dear Traffic Talk:

The striping for the new diamond lane was completed recently on the San Diego Freeway northbound in the San Fernando Valley. Is Caltrans aware that their configuration near the tunnel north of San Fernando Mission Boulevard and Rinaldi Street is a new nightmare?

We slowed to a crawl at Devonshire Street and crept north--only to discover that to squeeze in the last few yards of the diamond lane, they have “arrowed out” the right lane, leaving only two lanes for general traffic?

If this is permanent, they’ve committed a major faux pas!

Barry Cook

Newhall

Dear Barry:

Add another bottleneck to the 405’s already impressive collection of bottlenecks?

Mais non!

Within the coming week, in fact, Caltrans crews will restore the currently altered lane to its original state, said the agency’s spokeswoman, Pat Reid.

The two-lane squeeze was a necessary, but temporary part of a $15-million project currently underway that will widen 10 miles of the freeway southward from the Golden State Freeway.

Long-suffering 405 commuters can look forward to the new carpool lanes by the end of September.

Tres bien.