HIGH OCCUPANCY VEHICLE (HOV) LANES: HIGHWAY EXPANSIONS IN SEARCH OF MEANING

High occupancy vehicle lanes have been widely promoted and constructed in the USA in a belief that the provision of such facilities would improve transit performance, stimulate car and vanpool formation, and improve land use and air quality in urban areas. Critics, especially among environmentalists and alternative transportation advocates, assert that HOV lanes are merely highway expansions which promote more driving, weaken transit, increase air pollution, and facilitate suburban sprawl. This article demonstrates that, generally, HOV lanes are effective only to the extent that they are designed to fill transit and formal carpool program needs. Questions are also raised about the efficacy of HOV criteria, and the extent to which these programs are shaped by ideological and political considerations, rather than by careful analysis and planning. (A)