Motorists on the Wugu-Yangmei Overpass (五股楊梅高架橋) are to be able to drive slightly faster on the uphill section of the high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane as the National Freeway Bureau said it plans to allow drivers to switch lanes when they are behind slower-moving vehicles.
Constructed alongside the Sun Yat-Sen Freeway (Freeway No. 1), the 39km overpass has helped ease the congestion between Taipei and Taoyuan since it was launched last year.
The overpass is also equipped with the nation’s only HOV lane on a freeway, which is the inner lane in the section between Taishan (泰山) and Jhungli (中壢).
Photo: Hsieh Wu-hsiung, Taipei Times
The traffic policy stipulates that large passenger vehicles or small cars carrying at least three people can use the HOV lane.
However, recently, the bureau has been receiving complaints from drivers about not being able to change lanes when driving on the uphill section of the HOV lane.
They complained that large passenger vehicles tend to move slower on the uphill sections, and driving behind a large passenger vehicle often slows them down considerably.
After receiving these complaints, the bureau said it had asked the engineers of the National Expressway Engineering Bureau to jointly conduct an on-site evaluation and decided that drivers should be allowed to change lanes on the uphill section.
However, to lift the ban on changing lanes on the uphill section, the National Freeway Bureau said that it would have to change the road surface markings separating the HOV lane and other lanes in the uphill section from double white solid lines to one dotted white line and one solid white line.
The dotted line would be on the same side as the HOV lane, while the solid line would be on the side of the lane next to the HOV lane.
The new marking means that cars are able to switch from the HOV lane to other lanes, but cars from other lanes cannot change to the HOV lane.
Currently, drivers on the 19km HOV lane can switch lanes at any of the nine sections in which it is permissible, but they are not allowed to do so on the uphill section.
As to when the ban on switching lanes on the uphill section would be lifted, the National Freeway Bureau said it would have to find a contractor to remove the current traffic lines first and draw new ones, adding that drivers should not have to wait too long.
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