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Q: Now that a UC Berkeley study (Roadshow, Oct. 10) has established that kicking hybrids out of the carpool lane has slowed traffic for everyone across all lanes, it stands to reason that traffic would move faster in all lanes if we allow everyone to use the carpool lane!...A: Engineers at UC Berkeley's Institute of Transportation Studies studied carpool lanes across the region since solo drivers in hybrids were kicked out July 1. They concluded that the end of the program has unintentionally slowed traffic in all lanes. For example, the carpool lane along a four-mile stretch of Interstate 880 in Hayward saw a 15 percent reduction in speed after hybrids were booted out. he study's conclusion overheated the Roadshow phone line, the reader comment section on our website and my email inbox.
Mercury News -
The Lafayette City Council got its first look this week at a proposed solar project on the BART station parking lot, and council members generally like what they see. The project will cover about 350 parking spaces with shade structures topped by solar panels, which in turn will power parts of the BART system....BART chose the Lafayette station because its parking lot receives plenty of sun and the agency has no plans for transit-oriented development on the site, Schultz said. In addition to providing shade to commuters, the canopies will also reduce light pollution at night.
Contra Costa Times -
Many California drivers silently cheered on July 1, when the yellow stickers on 85,000 hybrid cars expired--meaning their drivers were no longer allowed to travel solo in the carpool lane. According to a new study released Monday at the University of California-Berkeley, though the loss of the single-occupant privilege that was cheered by other drivers may have made their own lives paradoxically worse. The research from the Institute of Transportation Studies at Cal-Berkeley was based on analyzing six months of roadway-sensor speed and congestion data from High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes throughout the San Francisco Bay Area.
Business Insider -
Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood will leave the Obama administration at the end of the president’s current term, his top spokeswoman said Thursday. aHood, 65, indicated his intention to leave the cabinet at a media luncheon, but gave no reason for his decision, spokeswoman Jill Zuckman said. He hasn’t yet discussed his intentions with President Barack Obama, she said.
Washington Post -
Thirty-four states plus the District of Columbia have text-messaging bans. In 31 states and D.C., it is a primary offense, meaning drivers can be pulled over specifically for texting....Chris Murphy, director of the California Office of Traffic Safety, said California had 7,924 texting convictions in 2010 — almost tripling the 2,845 citations issued in 2009, the year it made texting and driving a primary offense.
USA Today -
A new report says California’s proposed high-speed railroad could cost state taxpayers more than three times the official $43 billion cost projection. This $138 billion estimate comes from a trio of Bay Area analysts who have followed the project, which was conceived to carry residents from San Francisco to Los Angeles in about 2½ hours.
SF Examiner -
A steep increase in errors by air traffic controllers in the past three years could simply be the result of a new non-punitive reporting system. But it's also possible the new reporting system could be inadvertently hiding the full extent of the problem, or even contributing to it, congressional overseers said Thursday. At issue are Federal Aviation Administration statistics which appear to show a startling jump in safety incidents, including near collisions in the air and on the ground. Notably, the GAO says, air traffic controller errors have increased 53% in the "tower" area, generally within five miles of the airport, and 166% in the "approach" area, within 40 miles of the airport, between 2008 and 2011.
CNN -
Around 10,000 athletes and support staff will go through the "Special Games Terminal" in the three days after the closing ceremony on Aug. 12, 2012....The temporary terminal will only be used by Olympic athletes and their staff but is designed to minimize disruption for all passengers traveling through Heathrow at that time. Cole said the security checks will be the same as for all passengers.
New York Times -
A123 Systems Inc. shares rallied 17% to $3.87 on Wednesday after the battery maker was tapped by General Motors Co. to power the car maker's upcoming Chevrolet Spark electric vehicle....The all-electric version of the Spark mini-car will be sold in limited quantities in certain U.S. and global markets starting in 2013
MarketWatch -
...“It’s possible that in the future plug-in vehicles with large battery packs might offer the largest benefits at competitive costs if the right factors fall into place, including sufficiently low cost batteries, high gasoline prices, low emission electricity and long battery life,” says study co-author Mikhail Chester, assistant professor of sustainable engineering at Arizona State University. “But such a future is not certain, and in the near term, HEVs and plug-in vehicles with small battery packs provide more emissions benefits and oil displacement benefits per dollar spent.”
Futurity