Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Yeah. Today's Q and a what is the impact of
HOV lanes in Florida? This is brought to you by
Melissa and Ashes check Mark collections. Each day I feature
a listener question sent by one of these methods. You
may email me Brian Mudd at iHeartMedia dot com, hit
me up on social at Brian mud Radio. You may
also use the iHeartRadio talk back feature. Just go to
WJNO or Vero Patriot inside of the iHeartRadio app. Follow
(00:24):
us once when you get there. When you do, look
for the little microphone button.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
See it, tap it.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You may lay down the message right there, maybe for
a future Q and A. Today's note is this at
Brian mud Radio. Do you have an opinion on HOV
lanes on I ninety five? Personally, I've read they have
no impact other than to create congestion in the other lanes.
I also read that the intention is to replace all
of them with express lanes. Thank you for all you do.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Some times to change quite a bit over the past
few decades along Florida's East coast. But you've had two
dynamics that have been consistent. The cost of living increasing
along with ever rising traffic times. For example, recent study
found that the average South Florida daily commuter spends seventeen
hours longer in traffic annually compared to a decade ago.
(01:12):
Overall traffic congestion up just up three percent just in
the last year alone. So among the ideas to address
Florida's ever growing population, record levels of tourism and thus
consistently increasing traffic congestion have been the use of HOV
or high occupancy vehicle lanes, and yes, more recently increased
(01:33):
use of express lanes. You'd mentioned that you'd read the
use of them had only shifted the traffic burden to
other lanes. So about that. We have had numerous studies
done that have collected information regarding the implementation of the
HOV lanes and express lanes. Regarding the use of HIV lanes,
(01:53):
according to Stafe Roads USAY, the purpose of HOV lanes
is threefold. One, by shifting from a trend of low
occupancy vehicles to high occupancy vehicles, the total number of
vehicles on the road are reduced. Two, by giving high
occupancy vehicles priority, more travelers can move at a faster speed.
(02:15):
Three by adding another lane to the freeway, traffic congestion
can be reduced Okay, However, do HOV lanes actually accomplish
those goals? As their research shows the implementation of HOV
lanes has not been meaningly meaningfully successful in encouraging car
pooling and thus doesn't reduce the number of cars on
(02:36):
the road. Also, they've not monitored any added benefits of
adding an HOV lane in lieu of it being a
non HOV lane. In other words, hey, having the other lane, yeah,
no doubt that's going to be helpful. But if we're
just a regular lane rather an HIV, yeah, there's no
tangible evidence of a benefit. However, the Department of Transportation
(02:57):
suggests the use of lanes continue to offer for shorter
commute times of at least twelve minutes during high traffic
times in most metros. But again, that gain could simply
be the benefit of having the extra lane available, not
that it's specifically an HOV lane. Now, one of the
most recent and comprehensive studies on the topic was a
twenty twenty two study published in Science Direct entitled the
(03:18):
Impact of High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes on Car Pulling Now.
The study, which use data from the ways app, study
the impact of HOV lanes on car pulling and What
they found in a test in Israel is that the
way HOV lanes are designed, structured, and implemented significantly impacts
the impact that they can have on reducing traffic congestion
(03:40):
on roads. What they found was that round trip HOV lane,
So if you have like these dedicated round trip HOV
lanes that really do make it more convenient to carpool
or to have more than one person in that car,
then yeah, there can be more.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
People that consider that as an option.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
But that one way HOV lanes had minimal impact, and
that minimum two passenger occupancy requirements were best. So when
you put all this research together, what you end up
with is that the benefit of HOV lanes on nine
ninety five in Florida is not likely to be much
different than if the extra lanes were not designated as
(04:22):
HIV lanes, but that with more intentional traffic planning, where
added convenience and perhaps incentives are provided for more than
one person to be in the car, and then maybe
they could be more effective. Now, the one thing about that, though,
when you take a look at our area in particular,
how many people live right next to their the people
(04:44):
they work with. You are your neighbors, your your coworkers,
and so the likelihood that you're ever really going to be.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Able to carpool, you know, is just it's one of
those things.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
As for expresslanes, the most recent and comprehensive study of
them was published actually just last November, and bonus happen
to be of South Florida's use of them across fifty
seven point two miles, often the converted h of V lanes.
The study entitled Assessing the Impact of Express Lanes on
Traffic Safety of Freeways concluded this express lane deployment significantly
(05:19):
improved traffic dynamics and commuter satisfaction. Analysis that the ninety
five express lanes revealed increases in weekday traffic by nine
and a half percent and peak evening traffic by fifteen
point seven percent, with express butt bus route usage rising
by thirty three and a half percent. They say express lanes,
(05:39):
through dynamic tolling, speed up commutes, cut congestion, and fund
transport projects, boosting travel efficiency and supporting sustainable transit by
reinvesting toll revenues. Okay, that's quite the glowing report on
express lanes, Isn't it one area lacking within the study
which should acknowledge is the impact of on safety. Based
(06:02):
on those findings, I'll not be surprised if there is
a move to convert more HOV lanes in to express
lanes as mentioned in today's note. As for my opinion
on the matter, I have a couple of thoughts. I
am not a fan of HOV lanes or express lanes.
The bottom line is that as long as I ninety
five is the main thoroughfare for most South Flordians just
(06:23):
to get to and from pretty much anywhere, but especially work,
you're not going to have that inherent benefit to HOV
lanes because again, it is just not practical or realistic
to expect that people are going to be able to
effectively carpool to get from point A to point B.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Just our lives don't work that way.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And I am especially opposed to express lanes first and foremost,
as a matter our principle, I oppose toll roads. We
pay taxes for our roads. I don't believe in paying
taxes for roads we should then have to pay additional
taxes to be able to use them. However, aside from
my personal blofe, you got safety concerns anytime you add
(07:03):
additional layers to commuting, you add to the potential confusion
of drivers, and when that happens, you got an increased
safety risk that comes with distracted drivers and those making
erratically movements to either get into certain lanes or to
try to get out of them as they're trying to
figure out what the heck is going on. So this
is reflected and study data. One of the things that
(07:24):
is such a misnomer. If you go through these studies,
you'll find it. They'll talk about, man, these express lanes,
especially in South Florida, is so safe, the safest place
to drive.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Actually, it's true.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
You are thirteen to fifteen percent less likely to get
in an accident on an express lane in South Florida
compared to if you are not in that express lane.
But you know what, it doesn't do. It doesn't account
for everything that happens outside those express lanes. Basically, it's
(07:54):
like this, when are you most at risk of an accident?
This is true everywhere, but especially on ninety five when
lane changes take place. Overwhelmingly accidents happen when people change
lanes on ninety five. So the more that going on,
the higher the accident risk. So what happens when you
(08:17):
introduce hov and especially express lanes. Boy, you're really introducing
a lot of lane changes, right, And so what happens is, yeah,
because you're not changing a lane. If you're an express lane,
you're just in one lane, you're going to be less
at risk. But until you're there and for everything around it,
you're actually increasing the accident risk dramatically. So even the
(08:41):
safety part of it is a bit farcical in a
location like South Florida in particular, where we have high
volumes of visitors who aren't familiar with our roadways as well,
in addition to potential language barriers. You name it and
only adds to that dynamic. So I always got two
sides of stories, one side of facts. Those are the facts,
my opinion,
Yeah. Today's Q and a what is the impact of
HOV lanes in Florida? This is brought to you by
Melissa and Ashes check Mark collections. Each day I feature
a listener question sent by one of these methods. You
may email me Brian Mudd at iHeartMedia dot com, hit
me up on social at Brian mud Radio. You may
also use the iHeartRadio talk back feature. Just go to
WJNO or Vero Patriot inside of the iHeartRadio app. Follow
(00:24):
us once when you get there. When you do, look
for the little microphone button.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
See it, tap it.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
You may lay down the message right there, maybe for
a future Q and A. Today's note is this at
Brian mud Radio. Do you have an opinion on HOV
lanes on I ninety five? Personally, I've read they have
no impact other than to create congestion in the other lanes.
I also read that the intention is to replace all
of them with express lanes. Thank you for all you do.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Some times to change quite a bit over the past
few decades along Florida's East coast. But you've had two
dynamics that have been consistent. The cost of living increasing
along with ever rising traffic times. For example, recent study
found that the average South Florida daily commuter spends seventeen
hours longer in traffic annually compared to a decade ago.
(01:12):
Overall traffic congestion up just up three percent just in
the last year alone. So among the ideas to address
Florida's ever growing population, record levels of tourism and thus
consistently increasing traffic congestion have been the use of HOV
or high occupancy vehicle lanes, and yes, more recently increased
(01:33):
use of express lanes. You'd mentioned that you'd read the
use of them had only shifted the traffic burden to
other lanes. So about that. We have had numerous studies
done that have collected information regarding the implementation of the
HOV lanes and express lanes. Regarding the use of HIV lanes,
(01:53):
according to Stafe Roads USAY, the purpose of HOV lanes
is threefold. One, by shifting from a trend of low
occupancy vehicles to high occupancy vehicles, the total number of
vehicles on the road are reduced. Two, by giving high
occupancy vehicles priority, more travelers can move at a faster speed.
(02:15):
Three by adding another lane to the freeway, traffic congestion
can be reduced Okay, However, do HOV lanes actually accomplish
those goals? As their research shows the implementation of HOV
lanes has not been meaningly meaningfully successful in encouraging car
pooling and thus doesn't reduce the number of cars on
(02:36):
the road. Also, they've not monitored any added benefits of
adding an HOV lane in lieu of it being a
non HOV lane. In other words, hey, having the other lane, yeah,
no doubt that's going to be helpful. But if we're
just a regular lane rather an HIV, yeah, there's no
tangible evidence of a benefit. However, the Department of Transportation
(02:57):
suggests the use of lanes continue to offer for shorter
commute times of at least twelve minutes during high traffic
times in most metros. But again, that gain could simply
be the benefit of having the extra lane available, not
that it's specifically an HOV lane. Now, one of the
most recent and comprehensive studies on the topic was a
twenty twenty two study published in Science Direct entitled the
(03:18):
Impact of High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes on Car Pulling Now.
The study, which use data from the ways app, study
the impact of HOV lanes on car pulling and What
they found in a test in Israel is that the
way HOV lanes are designed, structured, and implemented significantly impacts
the impact that they can have on reducing traffic congestion
(03:40):
on roads. What they found was that round trip HOV lane,
So if you have like these dedicated round trip HOV
lanes that really do make it more convenient to carpool
or to have more than one person in that car,
then yeah, there can be more.
Speaker 2 (03:58):
People that consider that as an option.
Speaker 1 (04:00):
But that one way HOV lanes had minimal impact, and
that minimum two passenger occupancy requirements were best. So when
you put all this research together, what you end up
with is that the benefit of HOV lanes on nine
ninety five in Florida is not likely to be much
different than if the extra lanes were not designated as
(04:22):
HIV lanes, but that with more intentional traffic planning, where
added convenience and perhaps incentives are provided for more than
one person to be in the car, and then maybe
they could be more effective. Now, the one thing about that, though,
when you take a look at our area in particular,
how many people live right next to their the people
(04:44):
they work with. You are your neighbors, your your coworkers,
and so the likelihood that you're ever really going to be.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Able to carpool, you know, is just it's one of
those things.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
As for expresslanes, the most recent and comprehensive study of
them was published actually just last November, and bonus happen
to be of South Florida's use of them across fifty
seven point two miles, often the converted h of V lanes.
The study entitled Assessing the Impact of Express Lanes on
Traffic Safety of Freeways concluded this express lane deployment significantly
(05:19):
improved traffic dynamics and commuter satisfaction. Analysis that the ninety
five express lanes revealed increases in weekday traffic by nine
and a half percent and peak evening traffic by fifteen
point seven percent, with express butt bus route usage rising
by thirty three and a half percent. They say express lanes,
(05:39):
through dynamic tolling, speed up commutes, cut congestion, and fund
transport projects, boosting travel efficiency and supporting sustainable transit by
reinvesting toll revenues. Okay, that's quite the glowing report on
express lanes, Isn't it one area lacking within the study
which should acknowledge is the impact of on safety. Based
(06:02):
on those findings, I'll not be surprised if there is
a move to convert more HOV lanes in to express
lanes as mentioned in today's note. As for my opinion
on the matter, I have a couple of thoughts. I
am not a fan of HOV lanes or express lanes.
The bottom line is that as long as I ninety
five is the main thoroughfare for most South Flordians just
(06:23):
to get to and from pretty much anywhere, but especially work,
you're not going to have that inherent benefit to HOV
lanes because again, it is just not practical or realistic
to expect that people are going to be able to
effectively carpool to get from point A to point B.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Just our lives don't work that way.
Speaker 1 (06:41):
And I am especially opposed to express lanes first and foremost,
as a matter our principle, I oppose toll roads. We
pay taxes for our roads. I don't believe in paying
taxes for roads we should then have to pay additional
taxes to be able to use them. However, aside from
my personal blofe, you got safety concerns anytime you add
(07:03):
additional layers to commuting, you add to the potential confusion
of drivers, and when that happens, you got an increased
safety risk that comes with distracted drivers and those making
erratically movements to either get into certain lanes or to
try to get out of them as they're trying to
figure out what the heck is going on. So this
is reflected and study data. One of the things that
(07:24):
is such a misnomer. If you go through these studies,
you'll find it. They'll talk about, man, these express lanes,
especially in South Florida, is so safe, the safest place
to drive.
Speaker 2 (07:32):
Actually, it's true.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
You are thirteen to fifteen percent less likely to get
in an accident on an express lane in South Florida
compared to if you are not in that express lane.
But you know what, it doesn't do. It doesn't account
for everything that happens outside those express lanes. Basically, it's
(07:54):
like this, when are you most at risk of an accident?
This is true everywhere, but especially on ninety five when
lane changes take place. Overwhelmingly accidents happen when people change
lanes on ninety five. So the more that going on,
the higher the accident risk. So what happens when you
(08:17):
introduce hov and especially express lanes. Boy, you're really introducing
a lot of lane changes, right, And so what happens is, yeah,
because you're not changing a lane. If you're an express lane,
you're just in one lane, you're going to be less
at risk. But until you're there and for everything around it,
you're actually increasing the accident risk dramatically. So even the
(08:41):
safety part of it is a bit farcical in a
location like South Florida in particular, where we have high
volumes of visitors who aren't familiar with our roadways as well,
in addition to potential language barriers. You name it and
only adds to that dynamic. So I always got two
sides of stories, one side of facts. Those are the facts,
my opinion,
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