seattle area HOV system s**ks (Kirkland: home, live, bus)

[wutitiz]

Driving home on 405N today, traffic was somewhat heavy, and it reminded me how idiotic our HOV system is. On the stretch of 405N where I commute, the HOV lane is on the left, and the exits are all on the right. So every time an exit comes up there are drivers trying to move over 2 lanes. If traffic is moderately heavy this can be difficult. They have to wait for someone to let them in, or nose their way into the lane. And they have to do this twice, once for each lane. The result is a sea of brake lights, and disruption of traffic flow. I've never seen a bus on that stretch of 405, so it's mostly people on vacation, soccer moms w/ kids, and perhaps the rare carpooler. Given that I commute home at about 2PM, I doubt there are many carpoolers on the road.

About 10 years ago I lived in Seattle and commuted to Kirkland on 520. There's an HOV lane on westbound 520 that runs just up to the bridge, where 3 lanes merge into two. In this case the HOV lane is on the right hand side. Invariably there would be a backup, and slow traffic from Kirkland up to the bridge. But then once you got on the bridge, amazingly, traffic would speed up to at or near the limit, at least on my commute. Why would traffic be slower w/ 3 lanes that with 2? It was because when the HOV lane ended, people had to move over to the left, which of course resulted in the inevitable jockeying, and sea of brake lights. The state could have instantly improved traffic flow by just shutting down that HOV lane. Also I used to commute a lot by motorcycle, and considered that HOV lane as a death trap. You would be doing 40-50 mph on the narrow HOV lane, while traffic to your left crawled along. If someone gets the bright idea of switching from the GP lane to the HOV lane, smack, you're dead.

So in sum the HOV lanes are a safety hazard, and do not achieve the purported goal of environmental progress since more traffic disruption means more gas burned. What idiot had this bright idea?

[jm31828]

One more thing I see in the HOV lanes around here are single occupant vehicles who just think they are too good to wait in traffic with all the rest of us. I see many every time I'm out in traffic, I wish they would just shut these down and turn them into regular lanes to loosen up traffic a bit.

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[seattlenextyear]

It makes sense to have exits on the right, since people slow down before exiting. Just like it makes sense to have people enter on the right, as it takes them a while to get up to speed.

If you had exits on the left, off from the HOV lane, then the left lanes would get clogged with exiters.

[Hemlock140]

We noticed that when they first put them in 15-20 years ago, they keep switching sides, also on 520. Very annoying, but WSDOT has never been known for their great engineering.

[cocaseco]

Originally Posted by jm31828

One more thing I see in the HOV lanes around here are single occupant vehicles who just think they are too good to wait in traffic with all the rest of us. I see many every time I'm out in traffic, I wish they would just shut these down and turn them into regular lanes to loosen up traffic a bit.

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How do you know we arent too good?


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[jm31828]

Originally Posted by cocaseco

How do you know we arent too good?


Sent from my super duper really cool new phone that I want everyone to know about using fingers

Lol the arrogance it must take to whip over into that lane when driving alone to pass all the rest of us who follow the rules is maddening, I always wonder what makes them think they are an exception to the rules.

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[sean98125]

HOV on the left makes more sense because the traffic doesn't have to slow for cars entering and merging with the slower non-HOV traffic.

[west seattle gal]

I agree with the OP.

[Andy Patrizio]

HOV on the left is standard down here in SoCal and up north. I couldn't imagine putting it on the right side where people exit. One thing SF does right that LA does not is letting people use the HOV lanes during off hours and weekends. In SF, the HOV lane on the 101 is active from 7-9 am and from 3-7 pm, M-F. After that you can use it. in LA, they don't do that. HOV is for 2 or more every day. Misguided, IMO.

BTW, on my first visit to Seattle, I was coming down a highway where the HOV lane was on the right, then all of a sudden it was on the left. My friend was driving me to the airport for the flight home and I was like, what the hell is this? Never saw that before.

[cocaseco]

Originally Posted by jm31828

Lol the arrogance it must take to whip over into that lane when driving alone to pass all the rest of us who follow the rules is maddening, I always wonder what makes them think they are an exception to the rules.

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We just generally feel our time is way more important than yours. Same with a situation where two lanes roll into one and there is a long backup in the one lane. We cruise right by all the suckers waiting in line and merge at the last minute, often by force.

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