Add flyover to HOV lane critics’ list

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When the Nevada Department of Transportation slapped down the solid white lines and stamped two lanes on U.S. Highway 95 with white diamonds, plenty of folks were outraged.

Their primary complaint was this: Why would transportation experts use much-needed space on the highway for high-occupancy vehicle lanes in a city where it is widely known that carpooling is not popular and in some cases not even feasible?

Now those incensed motorists are watching crews build a mammoth $26 million flyover that will carry vehicles with one or more passengers from U.S. 95 north to westbound Summerlin Parkway.

The department’s goal is to reduce the number of vehicles having to weave across multiple lanes to exit on Summerlin Parkway, allowing some to use the flyover, which departs U.S. 95 from the left-most lanes.

The question is, how many motorists will this actually help?

In 2007, the state agency conducted a traffic study and determined that one in four or five vehicles were carrying more than a single person. Engineers estimated that by 2030, the high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the area of Summerlin Parkway and U.S. 95 will carry 3,000 vehicles per hour.

Now the skeptics who read that last statement are rolling their eyes. I see you.

High-occupancy vehicle lanes have been debated throughout the country. The plus side is that they encourage motorists to carpool, reducing carbon monoxide pollutants. The downside is that they take away space for general purpose lanes, causing more congestion. Others have argued that if their taxes have been invested in a freeway, there should be no restrictions.

The lanes are most effective in metropolitan areas with a core business district. For example, Oakland, Calif., has designated "casual carpool" areas where motorists pull up, announce their destination and pick up a load of passengers headed to the same place. In most cases, it’s San Francisco.

Las Vegas is spread out. It is a 24-hour town with all sorts of work shifts. It just doesn’t seem like it would be likely to find a carpooling group that live and work in the same place.

But John Terry, project manager for the flyover project, disagrees.

"For a city our size, we have a relatively dense employment center in the Strip," the engineer said. "The RTC (Regional Transportation Commission) is going to run its express bus service in the HOV lanes, and that is a big element to make them successful."

The Regional Transportation Commission also facilitates carpool groups through it’s Club Ride program. It encourages major businesses to provide incentives to employees who agree to ride to work together.

Terry noted that only a five-mile stretch of U.S. 95 has the high-occupancy lanes, so motorists who get on the freeway at the Spaghetti Bowl and plan to exit onto Summerlin Parkway aren’t likely to weave all the way to the left and then back to the right just to be in the designated lanes for a short distance.

"We need a more robust system, and it’s a work in progress," Terry said. "You need a longer length for the HOV lanes, and we’re not quite there yet. People won’t use them until there is a travel time advantage."

So, if five miles of designated high-occupancy lanes are not effective, why not leave them open to everybody and increase the freeway’s capacity until the entire HOV system – which will ultimately stretch to Ann Road – is built?

First, the section of U.S. 95 that has high-occupancy lanes was recently widened so there really is not a problem with backups, Terry said. Most important is that the project is federally funded, and that means there are strict requirements.

When Department of Transportation officials applied for the money, they said they would incorporate high-occupancy vehicle lanes into the widening project. They can’t change their plans, even if it’s temporary.

"Plus, once you give people a lane as a general purpose lane, it is very difficult to take it away and make it an HOV lane," Terry said.

The flyover, which is expected to be completed in midsummer, will feed into new lanes on Summerlin Parkway and end near Buffalo Drive.

Terry said motorists will have plenty of time and space to merge and exit at Buffalo, and he does not believe the end of the high-occupancy lanes will create a bottleneck.

A problem that exists now, and one can only imagine will get worse, are the cheaters who use the lane when they are driving solo. Once the flyover opens, it seems like it might be tempting to stay left and use the bridge rather than maneuver over to the exit.

Some cities have installed cameras that can decipher between a real passenger and a doll, a popular way to get around the multiple passenger requirement.

There are plenty of stores in Las Vegas that sell, um, life-sized dolls, but the transportation agency isn’t concerned enough to buy those cameras.

"Enforcement has always been an issue," Terry said, noting that hefty fines would be a deterrent. "You have to enforce it, but you’re not going to catch everybody."

If you have a question, tip or tirade, call Adrienne Packer at 702-387-2904, or send an email to roadwarrior @reviewjournal.com. Include your phone number.