SOUNDING OFF:Fix traffic by requiring carpools

I noticed an article in the Los Angeles Times on Monday and again in the Pilot (“Fixes for 55 congestion crawl to a start with study,” April 24) about the Orange County Transportation Authority funding a study to ease congestion at the end of the Costa Mesa Freeway (55).

Boy, that’s a lofty goal to be sure, and if the study can reveal real-world options that could make this work, then I would suggest that the study committee be empowered to tackle global warming next.

Short of 25% to 35% of the combined populations of Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Corona del Mar moving permanently elsewhere and their residences being converted to park land, I see little hope for the study to reveal an upside to this topic.

Obviously the traffic of all Southern California freeways is a significant issue, and coupled with an increased rate of population growth, I am not sure we could ever build enough additional freeway lanes to accommodate everyone’s desire to drive unhindered by heavy traffic.

Therefore, short of gasoline becoming so costly that a large segment of the driving community chooses to ride the bus, move closer to their workplaces, or create more carpool lanes forcing multiple passengers to each car, society may as well accept the life of a long commute. Anyway, it’s nice to study such topics, but I would venture to say the answers to this study are already well-known.

We, as a society, probably have reached the time when the privilege to travel the freeways will need to require at least two people per car. And while this would be a painful pill to swallow for most of us, this simple act of common sense could actually cause the freeway system to work as it should.

This pie-in-the-sky idea is warm, fuzzy and impractical at the same time, yet it could work.

What I would really like to see studied would be the benefits to our Southern California commute should some freeway czar snap his or her fingers and make the two-people-per-car idea a reality.

Can you imagine the savings in fuel? There’d be more money in pockets and better air quality. And there’d be time saved commuting and more time to play with the kids. Our cars and streets would last longer. We’d have less wear and tear on our sanity, and, most important, we’d restore the quality of life in the fast lane.

lives in Costa Mesa.