A new lane will be added to the 55 Freeway after the removal of a four-foot buffer zone between the carpool lane and the regular traffic lanes that used to be required under California law.
Assemblyman Van Tran wrote the Orange County Traffic Relief Act of 2008, which passed through the state assembly unanimously and was signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A Tran spokesman said the law to have the buffer was unusual and wasted space, but acknowledged it might have been created to safeguard against accidents caused by the sometimes extreme difference in speed between the carpool and regular lanes.
