Here is Joan Didion exposing the Diamond Lanes from the 1970s:
Joan Didion on Traffic
And the pathetic origin of the HOV lane.
Mar 7, 2011
• By JONATHAN V. LASTAt a transit conference prior to the Diamond Lanes’ debut, here’s what the Caltrans director told the audience:
We are beginning a process of
deliberately making it harder for drivers to use freeways. . . . We are
prepared to endure considerable public outcry in order to pry John Q.
Public out of his car. . . . I would emphasize that this is a political
decision, and one that can be reversed if the public gets sufficiently
enraged to throw us rascals out.
LOS ANGELES — This city of fast cars and endless freeways is preparing to do what not long ago would have been unthinkable: sacrificing car lanes to make way for bikes and buses.
The City Council has approved a far-reaching transportation plan that would reshape the streetscape over the next 20 years, adding hundreds of miles of bicycle lanes, bus-only lanes and pedestrian safety features as part of an effort to nudge drivers out from behind the wheel.
Not surprisingly, in the unofficial traffic congestion capital of the country, the plan has set off fears of apocalyptic gridlock.
“What they’re trying to do is make congestion so bad, you’ll have to get out of your car,” said James O’Sullivan, a founder of Fix the City, a group that is planning a lawsuit to stop the plan. “But what are you going to do, take two hours on a bus? They haven’t given us other options.”
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