405 Carpool Lane

This is from the LA Times:

State lawmakers are fast-tracking construction of a new carpool lane on a traffic-clogged stretch of the San Diego Freeway through the Sepulveda Pass.

A bill passed this week by the state Senate would allow a northbound lane to be constructed using the so-called design-build method. All signs indicate that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger would support the measure, and the bill could land on his desk as early as today.

"He supports the 405. He supports design-build," said Vince Sollitto, a spokesman for Schwarzenegger.

Local officials applaud the proposed legislation.

"The mayor was a strong proponent for the bill. He lobbied for it," said Darryl Ryan, a spokesman for Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who heads the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority board.

If they are getting money to build the thing, let them build. Then, the very next day after the thing is built, California should convert all carpool lanes into regular lanes forever. People who think carpool lanes are generally a good idea should be encouraged to report to special sterilization centers so that they will no longer reproduce. (In an earlier version of the sentence that was going to be "required," but I don't want to come across as an extremist--so the Carpool Lane Proponent Sterilization Centers can be voluntary.) Was there ever a more half-baked idea than carpool lanes? If freeways are failing their primary function--accomodating traffic--you don't devote some of their already insufficient traffic handling capacity to social engineering experiments!