Is the GUV pandering?

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PI Editorial Board thinks so, in an article admitting that the purpose of HOV lanes is not transportation, but social engineering.

Buses, car pools only in HOV lanes Friday, March 17, 2000 SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD Again playing the role of political weathervane, Gov. Gary Locke has declared that he favors opening HOV lanes to all traffic. Locke, playing to the crowd at a Bellevue Chamber of Commerce luncheon, said he would support opening car-pool lanes to all traffic on the weekends. In tossing a political bone to Eastsiders wedded to the single-occupancy vehicle, the governor risks making a wrong turn on an important public-policy issue. Those not as easily pushed by the political winds, however, are reluctant to ride along on this detour from sound transportation policy. The state Transportation Commission on Wednesday agreed only to study the idea to see if any data support the popular notion that opening HOV lanes at certain "off-peak" times would aid congestion. Its members don't want to risk reimbursing the federal government $850 million for putting the lanes to a use for which they were not intended -- or funded. Studying the idea may be an exercise in futility. Mark Hallenbeck, director of the Washington Transportation Center at the University of Washington, says research already indicates that "nothing will change" if HOV lanes are opened on weekends. "From an engineering standpoint" he says, "it makes no sense, and could even make matters worse in some areas." The purpose of the HOV lane goes beyond immediate congestion relief. The concept, of which we always thought the governor approved, was in part to reward travelers for reducing congestion, reducing pollution, conserving fuel, freeing up parking places . . . and leaving more room in the other lanes for those who had no choice but to drive alone. That's how habit patterns are built and reinforced. That's how alternatives become norms. That's how people come to think in terms of taking transit, car pooling and ride sharing. Even on the weekends, dedicated lanes should remain reserved for transit and other HOVs. Buses run on weekends, as do airport shuttles and other vans. Neighbors and friends share rides on weekends. All those alternatives to single-occupancy vehicles reduce pollution and congestion. What sense does it make to deny rewards for such responsible behavior just because it's the weekend? Any time freeway traffic is so light that the HOV lanes don't offer an advantage, it's light enough to accommodate single-occupancy vehicles in the other lanes. If the traffic is so heavy that the HOV lanes offer an advantage, that advantage should go to those in HOVs -- 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

-- (craigcar@crosswinds.net), March 17, 2000


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