Q: Hi Honk: Can you tell me why California HOV lanes have the pair of solid lines to signify no lane change allowed? I moved here from Washington, where you can go in or out at any time in the HOV lane. It seems to be working fine there — after all, it’s just another lane change!
– Jerry Wauchope, Thousand Oaks
A: Honk welcomes you to paradise, Jerry, although he bets Washington is a nifty place, too.
Until 2006, Southern California’s carpool lanes all had a pair of solid lines, allowing vehicles to enter and leave the lanes only at certain breaks.
Then some Orange County Transportation Authority board members, with Honk in the audience, began pushing for the thick, white dashes that tell motorists they can cross over safely whenever they choose. The board members received approvals for this continuous access for the 22 Freeway, and the concept grew — in Orange County.
“Each Caltrans district chooses which type of HOV lane access control it uses,” Nathan Abler, a spokesman for the agency, told Honk in an email. “Caltrans District 12, serving Orange County, has chosen to have continuous access to HOV lanes, with certain sections close to freeway interchanges striped with double, solid white lines for safety reasons.”
Caltrans asks each of its districts to weigh safety and traffic flow when considering which option is best, he said, and recommends that districts, which often cover one or two counties, be consistent inside their turfs.
In Los Angeles County, for example, there are no continuous-access carpool lanes.
Orange County was not the first California region to have these continuous-access carpool lanes. In fact, OC transportation leaders pointed north, where such lanes existed, when asking state and federal officials for approvals to get them.
But up in Northern California, at least some HOV lanes operate differently — carpool lanes during rush hours, and open to all other times.
Q: About your recent column concerning the lane markings on the 91 Express Lanes through Corona: What looks like tire tracks to some people are actually spots that had striping from when they do construction and re-position lanes. When the construction is done, they go back and grind or sand-blast the old stripes off and then put permanent lane markings back in. But you are left with those faded lines that go all across the lanes. With some places on freeways, it can be pretty bad and hard to tell where your lane is, just as your reader mentioned.
– Aaron Miller, Santa Ana
A: Honk has, as everyone knows, the smartest readers.
A couple of weeks ago, he published the photo of the markings and Ariel Alcon Tapia, a spokesperson for the Riverside County Transportation Commission, helped provide an answer, albeit there was still some question about those markings.
Aaron and two other readers — Scott Trumbo and Vernon Weisman — explained how the markings came about, and Tapia was able this week to confirm the grinding scenario and provide some more info:
The commission is doing pavement repairs on the Express Lanes in Riverside County, and if that doesn’t cure those particular markings, the future will. All of the concrete lanes will be re-done within a couple of years.
To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk