When I first heard about the potential for express lanes on I-95 from Transit Miami and the Sun Sentinel, I was hesitant. Taking the current HOV (carpool) lane and making it into two express lanes that would charge tolls? Sounds like an anti-carpool idea. Then I read more. (The Herald provided me with more of the info I was looking for.)
The plan for Express 95, or managed lanes, from 595 to 395, is expected to allow commuters an option. Want to go faster? Pay up. So the VIP can buy their way out of traffic. What about carpoolers? Will they be losing their lane? Some will, others won’t.
Express buses will ride free on these managed lanes, as will pre-registered vanpools and carpools with 3+ riders. That means if you currently carpool with just one other person, you’re going to need to find another. It also means that if you don’t usually carpool but on a particular day you have 3+ people in your car – you don’t ride free (because we assume you wouldn’t be pre-registered).
I see great benefit in this to be able to provide decent mass transit options across county lines that hopefully won’t take the rider 2+ hours to make the trip. I’ve also had an issue in the past with the current carpool lanes. They only running on specific hours, while traffic continues well beyond those time periods. Additionally, because there is no barrier between the regular lanes and the carpool lanes, many single riders weave in and out, causing the lane to go much slower than it should.
Read more about the project on the official website: 95 Express. Also check out the video that goes along with it to understand exactly how this baby will work.
My analysis so far: It just might be a good idea.
2 Responses to “95 Express Draws Controversy; It Just Might Work”
There was a push to make the HOV lane full time instead of the tepid two hours during morning rush hour and two hours in the evening but the Miami-Dade MPO board members protested loudly and killed the project in Miami-Dade.
What’s different with this scheme is that it will allow people who wouldn’t qualify for the HOV lane to use it whenever they want as long as they’re willing to pay to use it.
This scheme, unlike just simply extending the HOV lane to full time, doesn’t help traffic much and rewards those who usually drive the least fuel efficient – and most often single-passenger – vehicles by allowing them to bypass the plebes stuck in the “regular” lanes.
Buses, carpoolers, and drivers of qualified hybrids and AFVs already get to use the HOV lane – why not start by making it more exclusive to those who are doing the right thing instead of opening it up to the most selfish amongst us?
HOV and carpooling works best when you have a centralized business center, with employees clustered in specific geographic locations – two things we don’t have in South Florida. That is why the HOV lanes are so underutilized; carpooling isn’t an effective solution here. Business zones are spread all over the county, as are residence areas.
Having driven from Fort Lauderdale to Coral Gables for several years before I moved to Miami, I observed that cars on i95 south of the Golden Glades fell into to distinct categories: vehicles driving all the way down 95, and vehicles that get on for a few exits then get off.
Dividing 95 into “express” and “local” makes a tremendous amount of sense, and I predict that it WILL make transit times on that section of 95 much faster. After all, I’ve seen it work in other places.
BTW, I did try public transit for some of that time I lived in Fort Lauderdale. It took about 15 minutes longer by public transit, and the inadequate scheduling of trains and buses on the Broward end meant I could arrive at work an hour early or 15 minutes late.
And since I often work evenings until nearly midnight, I couldn’t use public transit at all during those shifts.