No, the law is the same. It is a matter of finding the most effective and safest way of enforcing it. Under federal law, two solid lines – which mark where the express lanes are -- denotes where lane changes are prohibited and "They [the NHP] are trying to find the safest way to implement them," says NHP Public Information Officer Loy Hixson.
According to the Nevada Highway Patrol, the Nevada Department of Transportation has gone from using lines to candlesticks (white plastic poles), back to lines and now to lines plus reflectors -- "buttons embedded in the lane, the better to see them. Essentially, they’re just a pavement marker," says Nevada Department of Transportation Public Information Officer Tony Illia.
Physical barriers at express-lane entries and exits – "candlesticks" – were taken out because they constantly had to be replaced. Too many people were panicking and crashing into them, on a daily basis, creating a lot more work for NDOT. The candlesticks were causing drivers to think they were in the wrong lane and trying to veer out of it. "The most of it was that the drivers were just not aware they were in the express lanes," says Trooper Hixson. "They [thought] they were just driving in the roadway."
The physical extent of the I-15 express lanes is rather limited, as they run parallel with the Las Vegas Strip, starting at Sahara Avenue and ending at Silverado Ranch Road (or vice versa), bypassing the Tropicana Avenue, Flamingo Road, and Spring Mountain Road exits, which have a tendency to get congested, for obvious reasons. Dotted white lines mark the points of entrance and exit.
