EDITORIAL: The fewer HOV lanes in Southern Nevada, the better

State transportation officials say they’ll put off re-opening high-occupancy vehicle lanes on Interstate 15 until later this year. A better idea would be to scrap the lanes entirely.

In October, the Nevada Department of Transportation converted HOV lanes between Flamingo and Russell on I-15 into general use lanes while the Tropicana interchange was undergoing a massive overhaul. With the project nearing completion, transportation officials now say they’ll keep the entire nine-mile stretch of HOV lanes idled until widening of the interstate further south is also finished.

“This coordinated approach allows us to ensure a seamless experience for drivers by opening the entire HOV corridor at once, rather than in disconnected segments,” NDOT spokeswoman Kamber Davoren told the Review-Journal’s Road Warrior in an email. “We’re actively responding to evolving construction schedules to ensure the system functions efficiently and safely from day one.”

That’s certainly a noble goal, but if NDOT officials are truly dedicated to ensuring the system “functions efficiently,” they’ll ensure the HOV lanes are put in permanent hibernation.

Born in Las Vegas nearly 20 years ago in an effort to encourage car-pooling and reduce emissions, HOV lanes have utterly failed in their mission, doing nothing to alter driving habits and even increasing congestion by limiting potential freeway capacity. In addition, the restrictions meant that thousands of local drivers who contributed to the cost of various highway projects were prohibited from enjoying the benefits of new lanes and off-ramps that were built and then deemed off-limits to the vast majority of motorists.

The height of lunacy arrived in 2019 when NDOT — taking its cues from the progressive green activists — imposed restrictions on the lanes 24/7, limiting drivers on I-15 and U.S. Highway 95 (now Interstate 11) even during non-peak hours. This proved to benefit only the many scofflaws who ignored the restrictions and used the lanes to bypass fellow motorists creeping along in the general purpose lanes during rush hour.

Four years later, with a new administration in Carson City, Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony pushed the NDOT Board of Directors to limit HOV restrictions to two hours each morning and evening from Monday through Friday. It was a refreshing step in the right direction. In the meantime, the agency, in an attempt to placate federal regulators, is in the midst of a two-year study on eliminating the HOV lanes altogether.

“My hope,” Lt. Gov. Anthony said, “is a year from now we’ll have this study done, and we can go to the federal government and basically tell them HOV lanes are useless.”

Southern Nevada drivers can only hope.