BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 405 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 8, 2013 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair AB 405 (Gatto) - As Amended: April 10, 2013 SUBJECT : High-occupancy Vehicle Lanes: State Routes 134 and 210 SUMMARY : Prohibits the conversion of mixed-flow lanes to high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes in Los Angeles County and requires the conversion of HOV lanes on State Route (SR) 134 and SR 210 from full-time to part-time operation. Specifically, this bill : 1)Prohibits the Department of Transportation (Caltrans), notwithstanding any other provision of law, from converting an existing mixed-flow lane into an HOV lane in Los Angeles County, unless otherwise required by federal law. 2)Prohibits, notwithstanding any other provision of law (except if Caltrans makes a specific determination, described below), an HOV lane from being established on SR 134 between SR 170 and SR 5 or on SR 210 between SR 134 and SR 57 unless the HOV lane is established on a part-time basis; requires any existing HOV lanes on these routes also to be converted to part-time operation. 3)Requires Caltrans to report to the Legislature by January 1, 2016, on the impact to traffic by converting these HOV lane segments to part-time operation. 4)Provides that, on or after May 1, 2015, if Caltrans determines that part-time operation of these lanes has resulted in an adverse impact on safety, traffic conditions, or the environment, it may notify the Assembly Committee on Transportation and the Senate Committee on Transportation and Housing of its intent to reinstate the lanes to 24-hour operation; thereafter specifically authorizes Caltrans to reinstate full-time operation of the HOV lanes. 5)Encourages Caltrans to introduce off-peak hours on other HOV lanes in Los Angeles County. 6)Makes provisions requiring the conversion of specific routes AB 405 Page 2 to part-time HOV operation operative on July 1, 2014, and repeals these same provisions 60 days after Caltrans notifies the Legislature of its intent to reinstate the lanes to 24-hour operation; requires Caltrans to post the date that the Legislature receives the notice on the department's web site. EXISTING LAW : 1)Authorizes Caltrans and local authorities, with respect to highways under their respective jurisdictions, to permit preferential use of highway lanes for HOVs, under specific conditions. 2)Requires Caltrans, or the appropriate local entity, to produce engineering reports that estimate the effect of an HOV lane prior to establishing the lane. The reports must evaluate the proposals for safety, congestion, and highway capacity. 3)Vests, under federal law, state departments of transportation with responsibility for establishing occupancy requirements for vehicles using HOV lanes, except that the requirement can be no less than two occupants. 4)Does not specifically prohibit Caltrans from converting a mixed-flow lane to an HOV lane. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown COMMENTS : The primary purpose of an HOV lane is to increase the total number of people moved through a congested corridor by offering two kinds of incentives: a savings in travel time and a reliable and predictable travel time. Because HOV lanes carry vehicles with a higher number of occupants, they may move significantly more people during congested periods, even when the number of vehicles that use the HOV lane is lower than on the adjoining general-purpose lanes. State and regional transportation agencies are required to ensure that federally supported highway and transit projects do not cause new air quality violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely attainment of air quality standards. Consequently, when transportation agencies identify a need to add highway capacity, their options are limited. They often rely on the addition of HOV lanes, which are generally AB 405 Page 3 considered a viable solution to adding highway capacity in nonattainment areas-i.e., where air quality is worse than the national ambient air quality standards. In northern California, HOV lanes are only operational Monday through Friday during posted peak congestion hours, for example between 6 a.m. - 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. - 7 p.m. All other vehicles may use the lanes during off-peak hours. This is referred to as "part-time" operation. In southern California, HOV lanes are generally separated from other lanes by a buffer zone. The HOV lanes are in effect 24 hours a day, 7 days a week--referred to as "full-time" operation. (SR 14 is an exception. Previous legislation (AB 1871, Runner, Chapter 337, Statutes of 2000) created a demonstration project to evaluate part-time use of the HOV lanes on Route 14). The operational practices vary differently between northern California versus southern California because of traffic volumes and commuter patterns in the two regions. Northern California highways usually experience two weekday congestion periods during peak morning and afternoon commute hours, followed by a long period of non-congestion. Using a full-time operation would leave the HOV lane relatively unoccupied during off-peak hours and would not constitute an efficient utilization of the roadway. Southern California normally experiences very long hours of congestion, typically between six to eleven hours per day, with short off-peak traffic hours. Part-time operation under these conditions is generally considered infeasible. HOV lanes work best where significant roadway congestion during peak periods occurs. (Optimum HOV lane usage is generally considered to be about 1650 vehicles per hour. In contrast, mixed-flow lanes are generally expected optimally to carry between 1,800 and 2,000 vehicles per hour.) Experience with HOV lanes from around the country has shown a positive relationship between ridership and travel time savings, suggesting that, as congestion grows, the travelers' willingness to carpool or ride on a bus that uses an HOV lane also grows. Caltrans reports annually on the use of its HOV system. In its 2011 HOV report, Caltrans reported that the peak-hour volume in the SR 134 HOV lane was 860 vehicles, well below the optimum volume of 1,650 vehicles per hour. In the SR 210 HOV lane, Caltrans reported the peak-hour usage at 1,511 vehicles, very AB 405 Page 4 near optimum capacity; data indicate, however, that the HOV lane usage drops substantially after the 6:00 p.m. hour. Regarding the conversion of mixed-flow lanes to HOV lanes, it is Caltrans' practice to avoid such a conversion. This practice stems from a failed attempt at this type of conversion on the Interstate 10 Santa Monica Freeway in 1976. On that project, an existing mixed-flow lane in each direction of the freeway was converted to an HOV lane. While the lane was successful in terms of person movement, the impacts on the remaining mixed-flow lanes were quite severe as the capacity of the freeway was reduced. The project was challenged in federal court and, after 21 weeks of operation, a judge ordered the lanes to be restored to mixed-flow operation on the basis that Caltrans had not done the appropriate public outreach required as part of the environmental review process. Despite its general attempts to avoid these types of conversions, Caltrans reports that there have, in fact, been a few locations where conversion from a mixed-flow lane to an HOV lane has indeed occurred--in spot locations where there was a need for HOV system continuity and where the cost to add a lane was prohibitive. Such conversions would be prohibited under this bill. Previous legislation: AB 2200 (Ma) of 2012, would have suspended the HOV lane on eastbound Interstate 80 in the San Francisco Bay Area during the morning commute. That bill was passed by the Legislature but ultimately vetoed by Governor Brown. In his veto message, the Governor stated, "Encouraging carpooling is important to reduce pollution and make more efficient use of our highways. This bill goes in a wrong direction." AB 1871 (Runner) Chapter 337, Statutes of 2000, prohibited, until June 1, 2002, HOV lanes from being constructed on SR 14 between the City of Santa Clarita and the City of Palmdale unless the lane was established as an HOV lane only during the hours of heavy commuter traffic. That bill also required the Legislative Analyst Office to report on the traffic impact of the part-time HOV lanes. That report found that limiting the HOV lane to part-time operation had "essentially no effect on traffic congestion, either positive or negative." REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION : AB 405 Page 5 Support California Trucking Association Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority Opposition Sierra Club California Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093