Carpool Lanes Open on San Diego Freeway

Perhaps some commuters cruising through the San Fernando Valley got to work a little quicker Tuesday morning--at least Caltrans officials hoped so after the opening of two carpool lanes along a 10-mile stretch of the San Diego Freeway.

The grand opening was the culmination of a $15-million project dating back to June 1994.

The lanes had been scheduled to open today, said Caltrans spokeswoman Pat Reid. “I guess they were efficient and were able to open ahead of schedule,” Reid said.

The lanes--one in each direction--stretch from the Golden State Freeway to the Ventura Boulevard underpass.

Motorists inaugurated the southbound lane at 3 a.m. and the northbound lane at 6:30 a.m.

The lanes have censors on the pavement that will give Caltrans information such as how many cars and trucks use the lanes and how fast they are going.

Caltrans said thousands who commute from as far away as the Antelope Valley should make good use of the lanes. It estimates that carpool lane users could cut 15 minutes off their rush-hour commute.

The new lanes are an addition to the $1.6-billion carpool lane program in the Los Angeles area.

Plans are already in the works to add another seven miles to the newly opened southbound stretch of the San Diego Freeway, Reid said. And preliminary considerations are also in place to extend the northbound lane.

The California Highway Patrol said the agency does not plan to patrol the new lanes more rigorously than other freeways. But Sgt. Ernie Garcia warned that the agency is always aggressive in citing carpool lane violators. Citations for carpool violations start at $271.

“We don’t have any reason to have special enforcement,” Garcia said. But “we’ll be looking for anyone who abuses the use of the lanes.”