Three-Passenger Lane Is the Exception to Carpool Rule

Dear Street Smart:

I believe I have traveled almost every mile of Southern California freeways, and the carpool lanes are a tremendous help. The other day, my wife and I were driving into L.A. on the San Bernardino Freeway. I was about to enter the carpool lane near the Temple City Boulevard offramp when my wife noticed the number three on the diamond and assumed it meant three or more per vehicle; later, checking with the CHP, we found that to be correct.

I understand that this freeway is the only one in Southern California requiring three or more persons per vehicle. This is very confusing; is there a reasonable justification for the three- versus the two-minimum used everywhere else on our Southern California freeways?

Robert J. Turull

La Habra

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Actually, the San Bernardino Freeway is the only freeway in the entire state where the carpool lane requires at least three riders per car, said Jim Drago, a spokesman for Caltrans in Sacramento. The only other carpool lanes requiring three are on toll roads, such as the express lanes on the Riverside Freeway in Orange County.

About 10 years ago, a study by Caltrans determined that the carpool lane on the San Bernardino Freeway would reach capacity even if the lane required three people per car.

“Given the traffic volume on that freeway,” Drago said, “you’d overwhelm the facility and, in effect, eliminate the benefit of car-pooling” by allowing carpools of only two people.

The maximum capacity of a freeway lane is about 2,000 vehicles passing a given point per hour, Drago said. Currently, the San Bernardino Freeway carpool lane handles about 1,600.

“That’s about the maximum number you’d want in there,” he said.

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Dear Street Smart:

The reconfiguring of the Lake Forest Drive offramp from the northbound Interstate 5 has greatly improved my daily commute. However, there are no speed limit signs on the one-mile transition road until you reach the final curve that leads to the signal light at Lake Forest/Avenida de la Carlota. I’ve been doing 65 to 70 mph and am worried about receiving a speeding ticket. Does the transition road have a freeway or surface-street speed limit?

Greg Holmes

Laguna Hills

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That transition road has the same speed limit as the freeway, 65 mph, said Pam Gorniak, a spokeswoman for Caltrans. The only sign, just before the Lake Forest/Avenida de la Carlota intersection, urges drivers to go 45 mph, but it is merely a cautionary sign without the force of law.

Advisory signs such as this one, Gorniak said, are yellow with black lettering and bear no words, while official speed limit signs are white with black lettering and bear the words “speed limit.”

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Dear Street Smart:

In stretches of the San Diego Freeway and Interstate 5 that have been widened, it is difficult to see the lanes. New Botts dots have been added, old ones only partially removed; new concrete is almost blindingly white, while the old is of various hues; pour lines that once helped define lanes are now haphazard.

Is Caltrans aware of the problem, and can something be done to make lanes more distinguishable?

Jon Cooper

San Clemente

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You’ll be happy to learn that the required work--including restriping and replacement of worn Botts dots--was performed just last week by Caltrans crews as the last step in the widening project.

“I drove it from Mission Viejo paying close attention,” Gorniak said recently, “and it looked new. They had just done it the night before.”

Still to come: completion of the center medians where direct connectors for the freeway interchange are under construction. They are expected to be completed early next year.

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Street Smart appears Mondays in The Times Orange County Edition. Readers are invited to submit comments and questions about traffic, commuting and what makes it difficult to get around in Orange County. Include simple sketches if helpful. Letters may be published in upcoming columns. Please write to David Haldane, c/o Street Smart, The Times Orange County Edition, P.O. Box 2008, Costa Mesa, CA 92626, send faxes to (714) 966-7711 or e-mail him at David.Haldane@latimes.com. Include your full name, address and day and evening phone numbers. Letters may be edited, and no anonymous letters will be accepted.