A regional task force last week discussed ways to make more room on Southern California highways for big rigs.

The Southern California Assn. of Governments' truck-lane task force is discussing possibilities such as segregating trucks in existing freeway lanes, building trucks-only lanes (ground level or elevated) and routing trucks into existing carpool lanes, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Kaku Associates, a Santa Monica transportation consulting company, is preparing cost projections for each of these options on 35 miles of the Pomona Freeway in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties. Those projections will be released this fall. Cost studies are also in the works for trucks-only options on the Long Beach and Santa Ana freeways in Los Angeles County and the Ontario Freeway in San Bernardino County.
Routing trucks to carpool lanes during off-peak hours would be the cheapest option. However, because trucks have lower speed limits than cars, it would create problems. Designating one or two existing lanes for trucks would also be an inexpensive option, but it wouldn't add any traffic capacity. Building new truck-only lanes would cost millions, perhaps billions, of dollars.