Time for Toll Lanes in L.A.

"But what if the entire freeway network included uncongested lanes guaranteed to be moving at the maximum speed limit?"

"These lanes would be open to buses, emergency vehicles, car pools and anyone else willing to pay a market-priced toll. Wherever you needed to go, you would have two new, high-speed choices - always moving at the maximum speed limit - that aren't available today."

"Atlanta, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco, San Diego, and Washington, D.C. are converting existing high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV) to high-occupancy toll (HOT) lanes and building new toll lanes on freeways that don't have car-pool lanes so they can establish networks of HOT lanes."

"That vision could start becoming a reality in greater Los Angeles, if Metro's new proposal to convert several existing car-pool lanes to HOT lanes gets implemented. The current plan, for which federal funding is being sought, would convert car-pool lanes on 85 miles of freeway to HOT lanes: on the Harbor Freeway (getting much better use out of the costly Harbor Transitway), on the 210 Freeway from Pasadena to the 605, and on Interstate 10 between downtown and the 605."