BILL ANALYSIS �
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Date of Hearing: April 23, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON TRANSPORTATION
Bonnie Lowenthal, Chair
AB 2200 (Ma) - As Amended: April 18, 2012
SUBJECT : High-occupancy vehicle lanes: Interstate 80
SUMMARY : Suspends the operation of high-occupancy vehicle (HOV)
lanes in the Interstate 80 corridor within the jurisdiction of
the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) during the
reverse commute direction, as defined. Specifically, this bill :
1)Suspends operation of the HOV lanes on this particular
corridor during this particular period, so long as doing so is
consistent with the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the
San Francisco Bay Area and with other federal requirements.
2)Defines "reverse commute direction" to mean eastbound on
Interstate 80 between the hours of 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. and
westbound on Interstate 80 between the hours of 3 p.m. and 7
p.m.
3)Makes findings and declarations regarding the unique nature of
the Interstate 80 corridor in the San Francisco Bay area.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Authorizes the California Department of Transportation
(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)Under the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, requires
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states that do not meet federal standards for carbon monoxide
and ozone to develop SIPs.
5)Also requires, under federal law, SIPs to result in emission
reductions to federal standards and to conform with regional
transportation plans;
6)Authorizes federal sanctions for a state's failure to conform
to SIP requirements; sanctions include withholding approval
for federal highway projects.
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. In general, carpoolers,
vanpoolers, and transit users are the primary beneficiaries of
HOV lanes.
HOV lanes work best where significant roadway congestion during
the peak periods occurs. 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.
In the Bay Area, HOV lane occupancy requirements are 2+ except
on parts of the system that feed into the San Francisco-Oakland
Bay Bridge, Carquinez Bridge, and the Benicia-Martinez Bridge,
which have HOV occupancy requirements of 3+. While federal law
vests states with the authority to set the minimum HOV occupancy
requirements, in practice this decision is made in the Bay Area
jointly by Caltrans, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA),
and MTC.
HOV lanes in the Bay Area are operated contiguous with general
purpose lanes and have continuous unlimited access into and out
of the lane, with no buffer (neither physical nor striped)
separating them from the adjacent lanes. The lane restrictions
are in effect only during weekday commute periods (e.g. 5-9 a.m.
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and 3-7 p.m.). During off-peak periods and on weekends, the
lanes are open to all traffic. Typically, HOV lanes work at
their optimum when the vehicular volume is approximately 1650
vehicles per hour. (In contrast, mixed flow lanes are generally
expected optimally to carry between 1,800 and 2,000 vehicles per
hour.)
This bill suspends operation of the HOV lanes in Interstate 80
between the Carquinez Bridge and the San Francisco-Oakland Bay
Bridge during the reverse commute direction. The author asserts
that HOV lanes in this corridor are not fully utilized at all
times. She cites as evidence recent HOV volume reports
demonstrating that while the HOV lanes may be at or near
capacity in the morning (approximately 1750 vehicles per hour),
only 200 vehicles per hour used the HOV lane in the reverse
commute direction.
Proposed amendments: MTC is pursuing an ambitious plan to
develop a region-wide HOT lane network throughout the San
Francisco Bay Area, including Interstate 80 within its
jurisdiction. The author has agreed to amend the bill to add a
January 1, 2020, sunset date to ensure that the proposed HOT
lane is not impacted by suspending operation of the HOV lanes.
Previous legislation: AB 2132 (Sher), Chapter 940, Statues of
1991, authorized Caltrans to establish HOV lanes on the new
Dumbarton and San Mateo bridges and the bridge approaches and
established the occupancy requirements for those HOV lanes at
2+. (These provisions were later repealed by SB 916 (Perata),
Chapter 716, Statutes of 2003.)
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : Janet Dawson / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
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