traffic reality

Social Engineering.

As TCA continues its lie: their toll roads
were never about less freeway traffic here,
with high gas prices absolutely killing
their already minimal toll traffic, I recall
a conversation 6-months ago with a high
level Caltrans Planner (or maybe he's
OCTA?) - I was carping about how, the
toll lanes on the 91, traffic-wise, we're
counter productive. That, if our real
purpose on freeways, is moving the
greatest number, most efficiently, over
a given distance - the marginally used
two lanes, blocked from use by the majority,
keeping the other 4-freeway lanes jammed
to a halt made absolutely no sense, as
the cost of paving those two toll lanes
would never be reimbursed from the
few paying their $10 / 10-mile toll cruise.
He replied, "Opening the toll-lanes to
freeway traffic would only marginally
increase the freeway traffic (Caltrans
considers 45 mph for 15 miles as
adequate freeway flow), so I'm thinking,
45 is way better than dead-stopped;
then he said, "besides, we're trying to
socially engineer people out of their
cars..."

In my family we have a 55-mile door
to door commute each a.m. - 18-miles
north on I-5, 37-miles north on the 405.

10-years ago, it regularly took easily
70 minutes (no toll road, no HOV Lane,
pure freeway).

Today it's approaching 40-minutes
(no toll road, no HOV lane, pure freeway).

$4.50 a gallon makes for some pretty
effective social engineering.

Exxon's socially engineered what
Caltrans and OCTA never could -

TCA's worst nightmare.