Virginia drivers thinking about buying a hybrid or clean-burning fuel vehicle to take advantage of the high-occupancy vehicle lanes in the Interstate 95/395 corridor only have a few months to act.
Gov. Tim Kaine signed legislation to prohibit all types of clean-burning fuel vehicles registered after June 30 of this year from using the I-95/395 HOV lanes. The vehicles would still be allowed on Interstate 66, the Dulles Toll Road and other HOV-only roads. Vehicles registered before July 1 still can take advantage of the exemption, said Marc Copeland, Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles senior policy analyst.
Of the 12,700 clean fuel vehicles registered in the state, 83 percent are in Northern Virginia, Copeland said. Of those, 98 percent are hybrids, he said.
“Virginia is No. 2 on the sale of hybrids list in the country, California being No. 1,” he said.
“We have a growing congestion problem. We have seen traffic increase dramatically in the past year, 42 percent, between 2000 and 2005 [on I-95/395 HOV lanes],” said Virginia Department of Transportation spokeswoman Joan Morris.
An increase in hybrids, carpooling and choke points contribute to the “overall deterioration in traffic” in the HOV lanes said Morris, who added that she is receiving e-mails from people about to move to the area asking about the hybrid exemptions.
In fall 2003, 4 percent of the HOV traffic within the corridor was hybrids, Morris said. By fall 2005, that number rose to 24 percent.
That increase is due to people being concerned about air quality, high gas prices and being able to use the carpool lanes, said several officials.
“We want to encourage carpooling. That is the whole point of the HOV lanes. If the lanes become so crowded that people don’t see the advantage of carpooling, then the purpose of the lanes is defeated,” said Prince William County Supervisor Corey Stewart, R-Occoquan.
Stewart said carpoolers are getting frustrated with hybrid drivers for that reason.
“This was clearly the first step toward the elimination of the exemption. Just because you beat the deadline doesn’t mean you can use the hybrid forever,” Stewart said.
The legislation also increases fines and registration fees to be used toward additional enforcement of the lanes.
Who’s in the Interstate 95/395 HOV lanes
» Between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m., 8,447 vehicles used the HOV lanes.
» Of those, 4,996 were carpooling.
» 1,848 were hybrid drivers.
» There were 1,604 violators.
Source: VDOT, October 2005, at the Newington Road intersection.
