Question of the Day - 01 August 2019

In terms of improved traffic flow and revenue generation, it's a little early to make an official pronouncement; enforcement has been under way only only since June 20, less than two months, and we make the point below that this is a long-term process. Indeed, the Nevada Department of Transportation is looking for three years of data before it evaluates any initial results; according to the preliminary findings, the DOT says the use of the HOV lanes is "gradually increasing."  

We do know that the Nevada Highway Patrol issued 31 tickets on the first day of HOV lane enforcement. The number of citations issued in the first month was revealed last week: 518. Those are just for lone motorists caught in the HOV lane; violations for crossing the solid white lines have been lumped in with other traffic infractions, so they're not broken down yet statistically. (That was recently corrected and that data is now being collected.) 

And if you think that at $250 a whack, that's just under $130,000 in fines in the first month, an annual pace of a little more than $1.5 million annually, that's not exactly the case. Mick Akers, the Las Vegas Review-Journal's outstanding reporter on the traffic beat, reports that to date, about half those tickets have come through municipal court. Eight were dismissed, 87 violators pleaded guilty and paid, and 159 are pending. So just because a ticket is issued, it doesn't necessarily mean that revenue is generated.

Plus, the Nevada Highway Patrol has "carried out multiple HOV-lane saturation-enforcement events" since enforcement began, so you also have to factor in the cost of issuing those tickets against how many might be issued during routine patrolling periods. (If the idea is to raise revenue from the HOV lanes, perhaps the DOT should consider establishing a system like some East Coast states and Canadian provinces use: HOV toll lanes. These allow solo-driver vehicles to use HOV lanes for a fee that varies depending on demand.) 

Early reports have indicated that the HOV lanes were underutilized; Channel 3 News Las Vegas put it at 10%. Of course, driving habits don't change overnight; the idea that commuters will immediately start carpooling to take advantage of the HOV lanes is unreasonable. In fact, in mid-July, the Las Vegas City Council unanimously passed a resolution to change the 24-hour enforcement back to the lane's previous weekday rush-hour use parameters. (It was just a symbolic gesture; only the NDOT and governor can change HOV-lane regulations.) 

On the other hand, will driving habits ever change? That, too, is a reasonable question to ask, but it's the assumption that prompted more than two years of freeway misery and $1 billion to be invested in the HOV lanes. 

The only local justification we've seen for the 24-hour enforcement is that Las Vegas is a 24-hour town. That said, southern California's HOV lanes are also operational full-time, due to traffic volumes and commuter patterns, with very long hours of congestion, typically between six to 11 hours per day, and short off-peak traffic hours. The DOT cites 24/7 enforcement in Utah, Washington, and Georgia as well. 

It's possible that the Nevada Department of Transportation is taking a cue from So. Cal: Though the congestion on US 95 and I-15 through central Las Vegas might not warrant 24-hour enforcement today, projected traffic jams from the growing population and ever-increasing visitation will necessitate it in the foreseeable future, so locals and visitors might as well get used to it now. After all, the NDOT projects that traffic on Las Vegas' freeways will double over the next 20 years. 

In addition, the $250 fine for HOV-lane violations will raise more revenues over a 24-hour period than the usual six to eight hours of HOV enforcement. The HOV project did, after all, cost a billion dollars. 

It's perhaps a truism that when you stuff more people into vehicles, you wind up with less vehicles on the road. And providing carpool lanes should, in theory at least, encourage "green" commuting. No one can say whether or not the theory will translate into practice.

The City Councilman who introduced the resolution is on the "no" side. He said, "[Carpooling] is not going to happen in Las Vegas. People like to drive in their own cars by themselves to get where they're going.”

But being eternal optimists, we prefer to believe that at some point in the future, the HOV lanes will better manage the flow of traffic on freeways that can't get any wider and will eke out more capacity, even if slowly and incrementally. 

And if/when they do, the investment in time, money, and inconvenience will have been worth it.