Why not HOV-4

WBSlug7 -
I, for one, like the idea of HOV-4 very much. Years ago, the HOV lanes required 4 people and there was a noticeable increase in cars on the HOV lanes when it went to HOV-3. (Sludge - I believe you are right - the slug lines back then had much fewer participants.) Considering that the HOV lanes get more and more congested each year, I think your idea is a great one. How many of us haven't complained about how our commute time on the HOV lanes keeps getting longer and longer?

I would rather remove the car seat than sit in this worsening traffic. The slugging system cannot possibly be tailored for everyone (including the sometimes drivers, such as someone missing a carpool member for the day). IT MUST ADDRESS THE MASSES. There definitely is the parking problem, but again, I would rather take temporary measures, such as leaving early (of course, that does leave the later arrivals with no parking spaces) than continue to see my commute time lengthen. Some folks I've talked to said they would be willing to take turns sharing rides with neighbors to the lots and they would require one parking space, and others have said that they have a family member that can drop them off...that type of thing. Although not everyone can do this, I would rather think of another alternative to the lots than spend more and more time for an already long commute (from Rt. 17). In the meantime, I suggest bombarding your representatives with demands for more or larger lots. I have done so, but numbers is what counts. From the people I've talked to, none have contacted their representatives. This is why the hybrid situation is being looked at again - hybrid owners are contacting their representatives in large numbers. We, apparently, are not.

parking is not a problem at Potomac Mills. I remeber when it was HOV-4 also :)

If memory serves me correctly, Congressman Stan Parris placed a rider to a bill to rename a building in Savannah, Georgia after Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouts. This rider changed the structure of HOV completely. It reduced the number of required riders from 4 to 3 and it also opened the HOV lanes to all traffic during non-rush hour, although lately that seems to be an oxymoron. Initally the Commonwealth of Virginia balked when Congress determined the evening HOV hours to be 3:30 to 6:00 and declared that HOV would be 3:30 to 6:30 (wouldn't that be nice). Well, Congressman Parris just didn't like that idea and told the Commonwealth that if they didn't shape up and play by his rules, Congress would withhold the federal monies earmarked for Virginia's roads. This all occured in the late 1980s and no changes have been made to the hours that HOV are opened in the evenings. I have always thought that 6:00 was too early especially for those work until 5:30. And now with all the congestion and traffic there is no way to get to the HOV lanes before 6:00 if you work until 5:30.

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Originally posted by Wagonman
Close the HOV at the Pentagon? Are you freakin' nuts? Closing Edsall to non-HOV would help, but not closing it to all traffic.

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I took that to mean "close the 14th St bridge HOV lanes to non-HOV" even though Stuck2 did say Pentagon.

Sounds good in theory, but I too think I recall the reason for reducing HOV from 4 to 3 was to increase utilization of the lanes back in the day. I also think about your average Friday where, at least at the Old Hechinger's lot at Old Bridge and 123 it can be difficult just getting a couple of slugs, much less a 3rd. Then there are the drivers with the 2-door compact cars where there really isn't room for 2 average sized people in the back seat. I'm also one of those people with the carseat in the back that is god-awful difficult to put in and take out (I thought the LATCH system was supposed to be the answer to car seat installation hell, but apparently not, based on salsita's earlier posting). Before I had the car seat, I always "took a 3rd" which of course, people now have the option of doing. Not many are willing to though, esp in the AM, perhaps because they're thinking that's one additional stop they'll have to make in the obstacle course of downtown rush hour driving.