Citizens for Appropriate Transportation (CAT)
The Eisenhower
Transportation Corridor
HOV LANES - A PRIMER
What
is an HOV lane?
Are
there HOV lanes elsewhere? There are about 96 HOV freeway projects in 30
metropolitan areas, including
What
is the theory behind HOV lanes? With more people in each vehicle, there are fewer
vehicles needed to reach the same capacity. If each vehicle in an HOV lane
carries three people, then the lane can have one-third as much traffic as a
general traffic lane and still have the same people-carrying capacity. With
fewer vehicles in the HOV lane, travel time will be reduced.
What
are HOV lanes supposed to do?
What
are the differences among HOV projects? Three major differences among HOV
projects are:
IDOT's
1998 study for the Ike recommended HOV lanes that allow all vehicles, full-time
HOV lanes, and four-foot painted buffers between the proposed HOV lanes and the
general traffic lanes.
Have
any HOV lanes been discontinued? Yes. In November 1998, New Jersey
Governor Christine Whitman discontinued the HOV lanes on I-287 and I-80 because
they did not encourage carpools, reduce congestion, or reach a minimum of 700
vehicles per hour.
In
Some
people claim that HOV lanes are just a trick to build more roads. Are they
right? The scenario that they see is that HOV lanes are built for
good-sounding objectives. If they don't work, they become general traffic
lanes.
IDOT
wants to test HOV lanes, but selecting the Eisenhower Expressway as the test is
a strange and expensive choice. IDOT needs additional right-of-way for the HOV
lanes and must rebuild every intersection. In contrast, the express lanes on
the Kennedy and Dan Ryan Expressways could be converted to HOV lanes just by
changing the signs and adding pavement markings.
Further,
the HOV lanes on the Ike would stop at
The
phenomenon of "induced demand," (adding roadway capacity induces more
people to drive) is also a concern. IDOT spent $140 million and two years on
the Hillside Strangler improvements only to see travel times remain about the
same (
Don't
HOV lanes require a lot of management? Yes they do. HOV lanes don't work
with either too much traffic or too little traffic. Too much traffic means
longer trip times so the objective of reducing travel time is not met. Too
little traffic creates the "empty lane syndrome" where the capacity
of the HOV lane is underutilized and more congestion and longer travel times
occur on the general traffic lanes.
Are
car pools hard to form? People who work late or irregular hours, use their
cars during the day, park free at work, have young children or aging parents,
and who need to run errands during their commute are less inclined to car pool.
Is
there an unbiased study on HOV lanes? A report by the nonpartisan
Legislative Analyst’s Office in
CONCLUSION: IDOT has
not made the case for why they want to spend $800 million to test HOV lanes on
the Ike rather than spend virtually nothing to test HOV lanes on the Kennedy or
Dan Ryan. If the purpose of the proposed Ike expansion is to increase roadway
capacity, then they must prove that HOV lanes will work and are better than
alternatives such as extending the CTA Blue Line, upgrading the Metra commuter
rail lines, and alternatives that include all modes of transportation.
Rick
Kuner - October 2002
CAT Home | Previous
Issue Brief | Next Issue Brief | Issue
Brief Index