Press Release

Washington State Department of Transportation

Vancouver, Washington -- An electronic version of the sixth 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. To view and print out copies of the report online, please visit the following Southwest Washington Regional Transportation Council (RTC) Web page link: www.rtc.wa.gov/hov/eval/r6Report.pdf.

Data for Evaluation Report #6 was gathered in October 2004 by transportation consultant Parsons Brinkerhoff Quade and Douglas from Portland, Ore. WSDOT will present data from all six reports to the Bi-State Coordination Committee at a March 31, 2005 workshop. This will be the first step in obtaining local recommendations about the HOV lane. WSDOT will also seek a recommendation from the RTC Board before making a decision about the future of the HOV lane. WSDOT must then receive concurrence from the Federal Highway Administration on its decision before announcing it publicly.

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, with the last two gathered during the two-year extension of the pilot project. All of the evaluation reports are available on the RTC�s Web page (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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