Editorial: Car-pool lanes will backfire

Friday, Sept. 27, 2002 | 6:04 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: Sept. 29, 2002

Every rush hour tens of thousands of southbound commuters on U.S. 95 in the northwest must negotiate a curve -- at between 0 and 5 mph. This would be the Rainbow Curve, which brings drivers to a crawl or a stop because of its narrowness as traffic from Summerlin Parkway merges onto the highway. A project to widen U.S. 95 for a 10-mile stretch that includes the Rainbow Curve is under way, and for those who drive that stretch the work cannot be completed too soon.

But now it's time for local transportation planners to get with the Federal Highway Administration and also negotiate a curve -- this one on paper. During the planning phase that included preparation of the project's environmental impact statement, it was agreed to widen the highway from six lanes to 10 lanes, meaning each direction would get an additional two lanes. That's pretty straightforward. The curve is that of the two extra lanes in each direction, one must be reserved for vehicles occupied by at least two people. Upon reflection, this is a curve that Nevada planners tossed at themselves. They should never have agreed to car-pool lanes on such a short segment of improved road.

Car-pool lanes work best on long stretches of wider highways, those which have 12 or more lanes. Here, the whole widening project is only 10 miles, and the car-pool lane is only planned for five miles -- a stretch with several exits that many drivers in the far-left lanes could only reach by crossing four lanes of traffic. During the planning stages years ago, before this segment of the highway had reached its "beyond gridlock" condition, an immediate car-pool lane may have looked good on paper. Its inclusion, no doubt, also helped secure the federal financing -- car-pool lanes are seen as benefiting air quality, a top priority among federal administrators.

Car pooling is a worthy goal, but it would work better as part of an integrated, mass-transit plan -- one that includes park-and-ride lots, light rail and buses serving highway exits. All by itself it is not likely to have many takers, meaning one very expensive and badly needed lane would be wasted. State transportation planners should meet with their federal counterparts and negotiate a postponement of the car-pool lanes.