Caltrans, which manages the state’s freeways, is putting together plans for how 15.5 miles of HOV lanes on the 5 Freeway from Red Hill Avenue in Tustin north to the county line could be converted into tolled express lanes.
Caltrans staffers say in an environmental report the HOV lanes aren’t always providing the faster travel times they were built for, which is why express lanes are being looked at.
The converted lanes would let drivers who aren’t carpooling use them if they have a FasTrak transponder and pay a toll. It hasn’t been decided yet if cars with multiple passengers would be free to continue to use the lanes without paying a toll.
Caltrans says the HOV lanes can get congested at peak travel times and the roads are going to be busier in the coming decades with more drivers. So to keep the lanes moving at highway speeds, they need to be converted.
Caltrans estimates the conversion to express lanes would save people 1.1 million person-hours of delay annually and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Caltrans is preparing a final environmental impact report that will shape the exact scope of the project and has been soliciting community feedback for the past few years. The agency, which estimates it could cost up to $432 million to make the conversion, applied in November for a $100 million grant from the California Transportation Commission.
Converting the lanes for collecting tolls would require the installation of cameras, new signs and striping.
If the project progresses, construction could start as early as July of 2026 and could finish by October of 2029.
Map of where express lanes are planned to be added on the 5 Freeway. (Courtesy of Caltrans)Almost half of the 5 Freeway’s HOV lanes in both directions over the 15.5 mile stretch under consideration had demand nearing or exceeding capacity during peak travel hours, according to a traffic study included in the project’s environmental impact report using data from 2022.
By 2055, Caltrans projects those congested conditions to increase during peak hours to 74% of road segments on the northbound HOV lanes and 91% for the southbound lanes if the lanes aren’t converted.
The project area runs through the cities of Tustin, Santa Ana, Orange, Anaheim, Fullerton, Buena Park, La Mirada and Santa Fe Springs.
In 2021, the Orange County Transportation Authority finished adding a second carpool lane on the 5 Freeway between the 55 and 57 freeways, but the rest of the 15.5 miles generally have only one HOV lane in each direction.
Caltrans is looking at a few different options. Some would create two express lanes in areas where there is only a single HOV lane now, and one would just up the HOV requirement to three people and not add the express lanes.
Though costlier, one plan looks at adding a second express lane on the 5 Freeway from the 57 to the 91 freeways.
None of the proposals call for buying any additional land for freeway expansion.
Two new park and rides are also proposed to be a part of the project. One would be located southbound near the Disney Way off ramp and the second southbound at the Grand Avenue off ramp.
While the creation of express lanes on the 405 and 91 freeways was paired with additional “general purpose” lanes for the main section of freeway where single drivers can travel, the 5 Freeway is not proposed to get new main lanes.
More major freeways are planned to get express lanes as well, looking at the documents included with those project.
The 91 Freeway west of the 55 Freeway, and the 55 Freeway from the 5 Freeway north to the county line are also on a Caltrans map outlining future expansion of express lanes.
And in LA County, the 405 through the Sepulveda Pass is planned to get express lanes, along with the 105, 605 and more portions of the 10 Freeways there.
The 5 Freeway serves major job centers and attractions such as UCI Medical Center, Disneyland and Angel Stadium.
A 2016 study from Caltrans District 12, which covers Orange County, said express lanes offer drivers more reliable travel times and provide some relief for those who stay in the free-to-travel main lanes. That report identified the 5 Freeway as a good candidate for getting express lanes.
Express lanes can control congestion across all the lanes by shifting the passenger requirement needed to ride for free throughout the day and the cost of the toll, according to the report.
“The express lane idea is we can charge people and let some extra people in and presumably people who value the time savings the highest,” said David Brownstone, professor emeritus of economics at UC Irvine who has studied transportation.
The state is required to improve HOV lanes that don’t move at federal speed standards. Federal law requires vehicles to be able to travel at 45 mph during peak travel periods on weekdays 90% of the time. States that don’t address HOV lanes not traveling at intended speeds can be hit with sanctions and not receive federal funds for projects.
Brownstone said the federal government created that regulation to ensure HOV lanes always provide a benefit to use them since it usually takes some sacrifice from people to carpool. California has also incentivized buying electric vehicles by letting them ride in HOV lanes, he said.
“If you don’t put any regulation in and the carpool lanes get built up, the fact you spent all this money has not provided any incentive for additional carpooling,” Brownstone said.
Brownstone said managed lanes are much more politically acceptable than implementing congestion pricing on freeways, where all drivers are charged a toll to use the roads, an idea being studied for LA County’s freeways, which are more congested than in OC.
The Orange County Transportation Authority opened the new express lanes on the 405 Freeway in December 2023. More than 70% of trips on those lanes are drivers paying the full toll rate.
About 389,000 vehicles drive on the 5 Freeway each day, according to a traffic study.
Don La Commare said he occasionally uses the HOV lanes on the 5 Freeway when he is driving around for his business and he won’t be happy to lose them. La Commare, who lives in Yorba Linda, said he only uses the express lanes on the 91 Freeway if someone else is paying the toll for that trip.
“I think it’s just another way of charging the residents,” La Commare said. “I think it’s terrible. I don’t like paying FasTrak fees.”
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