BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2542
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Date of Hearing: May 4, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2542 (Gatto) - As Amended March 15, 2016
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires that, prior to the California Transportation
Commission (CTC) approving a capacity-increasing project or a
major street or highway lane realignment project, Caltrans or a
regional transportation planning agency must demonstrate that
reversible lanes were considered for the project.
FISCAL EFFECT:
AB 2542
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Unknown costs to Caltrans and regional planning agencies. Costs
would in part depend on the level of analysis required by the
CTC to demonstrate adequate consideration of incorporating
reversible lanes into any project. Assuming that instances where
use of such lanes would be practical is quite limited, the costs
of this bill should not be significant.
COMMENTS:
Background and Purpose. Reversible lanes add peak-direction
capacity to a two-way road and decrease congestion by
"borrowing" available lane capacity from the other (off-peak)
direction. The lanes are particularly beneficial where the cost
to increase capacity is especially expensive, like on bridges
and in dense urban areas. In California, reversible lanes were
first inaugurated on the Golden Gate Bridge in October 1963.
Today, in addition to the Golden Gate Bridge, reversible lanes
are used on the San Diego-Coronado Bridge, Interstate 15 in San
Diego, and, until recently, in the Caldecott Tunnel.
According to the Texas A&M Transportation Institute (Institute),
the decision to consider reversible lanes is usually based on
the need to mitigate recurrent congestion. Its use is most
applicable on multi-lane roadways with a directional imbalance
in excess of 65/35% with a predominance of through traffic and
predictable congestion patterns. Reasons agencies give for
using reversible lanes include: congestion mitigation, queue
length, the need to decrease travel time, and the need to
improve the overall corridor level of service.
AB 2542
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Analysis Prepared by:Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)
319-2081