Press Release

Vancouver, Washington -- An electronic version of the fifth evaluation report for the Washington State Department of Transportation�s (WSDOT) I-5 Vancouver High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane pilot project is now available online to interested members of the public. The Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council (RTC) Board will have an opportunity to review the report at their January 4, 2005 meeting. To view and print out copies of the report online, please visit the following RTC Web page link: http://www.rtc.wa.gov/hov/eval/r5Report.pdf.

The results of Evaluation Report #5 are similar to previous reports, with the HOV lane continuing to meet six of the eight operational goals established to gauge the success of the pilot project. Data for Evaluation Report #5 was gathered in April 2004 by transportation consultant Parsons Brinkerhoff Quade and Douglas from Portland, Ore. The draft report was presented to WSDOT for review in October 2004. Data for a sixth evaluation report was gathered in October 2004 and will be released early next year.

The I-5 Vancouver HOV lane pilot project began in October 2001, and was the state�s first part-time HOV lane. Four evaluation reports were created during its first year of operation, all of which are available on the RTC�s Web page (http://www.rtc.wa.gov/hov/evaluation.htm). The four-mile long HOV lane runs along I-5 southbound between NE 99th Street and Mill Plain Boulevard in Vancouver. It is operational on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m.

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