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Levy urges expanded access to LIE's HOV lanes

Jan 4, 2008 | STEVE RITEA | Newsday

Inspired by a recent trip to Florida, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy is asking the state Department of Transportation to expand access to High Occupancy Vehicle lanes on the Long Island Expressway, offering more convenience to carpoolers.

"When I visited there about a month ago, I noticed, getting onto I-95, there was a continuous perforated line to get in and out whenever and wherever you wanted," Levy said Wednesday. "I was comparing that to the LIE, where at times you have to wait two or three exits to get in or out."

In a Dec. 27 letter, he asked DOT heads in Albany and on Long Island to consider "a preliminary trial run of the Florida system."

DOT spokeswoman Eileen Peters said the department is working on a response, but declined to elaborate.

Peters previously said concerns over safety and smooth traffic flow caused the state to limit HOV access, noting potential dangers of vehicles switching from slower-moving lanes to fast-moving HOV lanes at too many points.

As it is now, for example, drivers who enter the westbound LIE from Route 110, near Exit 49, can legally merge into the HOV lane within about a mile, but - unless they immediately opt to get out - must remain there until about a mile before Exit 42, a connector to the Northern State Parkway.

Similarly, drivers getting on the eastbound LIE near Exit 43-South Oyster Bay Road have to travel about three miles in regular traffic before legally moving into the HOV lane.

"It always burned me up that I could be stuck in these lanes for 15, 20 minutes before getting access to the HOV," Levy said.

Using the Florida model also could reduce traffic, Levy suggested. "If cars were able to get out [of the HOV lane] in a graduated fashion, it would lead to less bottlenecking," he said.

While allowing drivers more freedom to move between regular and HOV lanes could be more convenient, several experts said they had no data to suggest it helped traffic flow.

The Federal Highway Administration, in fact, has no guidelines on allowing drivers to move in and out of HOV lanes. "We don't have any data that tells us one way is better than the other," spokesman Doug Hecox said.

A spokesman for the Florida Department of Transportation said Interstate 95 through Miami-Dade, Palm Beach and Broward counties carries more than 200,000 vehicles per day, and drivers with two or more passengers can move in and out of HOV lanes whenever they please. The LIE, which requires at least one passenger in HOV lane vehicles, carries an average of 184,219 vehicles per day.

Sgt. Mark Wysocky, a spokesman for the Florida Highway Patrol, said he didn't believe unrestricted lane access caused a notable number of wrecks there. "I don't think it leads to a lot of crashes," he said.

A California researcher said limiting access didn't appear to make his state's highways any safer, either.

"There is no apparent safety advantage to the limited access," said David Ragland, who has been studying movement in and out of HOV lanes there for the past year as director of the Traffic Safety Center at the University of California-Berkeley.

While HOV lanes in Northern California offer drivers unrestricted access, those in Southern California have restricted access, like the LIE.