EVALUATION REPORT ON THE SANTA MONICA FREEWAY DIAMOND LANE PROJECT AFTER 21 WEEKS OF OPERATION

The success is reported of a project in which the fast lanes of a 12.5-mile segment of the Santa Monica Freeway, Los Angeles was reserved for bus and car pool use in an effort to conserve energy and improve air quality. It was also designed to demonstrate that more efficient use could be made of existing transportation facilities without a massive investment in freeways. At the end of 21 weeks, it was found that 3% more people were traveling on the freeway in the peak periods in 7% fewer vehicles, and that carpools totaled 2-1/2 times the number in operation before the project. Riders of the Regional and Municipal bus lines tripled, and fuel savings, had it continued for a full year, would have totaled 2.9 million gallons. The characteristics of the freeway users (vehicles and travellers) are analyzed, the travel conditions on the freeway are assessed, and the diversion of traffic is discussed. The effects of the project on energy, air quality, safety and costs and benefits are presented. The legal and institutional setting for the project are discussed, and the "before project" data used as a baseline for analysis are explained in appendices.

• Corporate Authors:

  California Division of Highways

  1120 N Street
  Sacramento, CA  United States  95814
• Publication Date: 1976-9

Media Info

• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; Tables;
• Pagination: 39 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Air quality management; Before and after studies; Bus priority; Carpools; Conservation; Costs; Energy; Freeway operations; Freeways; High occupancy vehicle lanes; Highway safety; Legal factors; Ridership; Traffic diversion; Traffic lanes
• Old TRIS Terms: Reserved lanes
• Subject Areas: Energy; Environment; Finance; Highways; Law; Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00145009
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 1 1977 12:00AM