Some curb their enthusiasm about Green Lanes

There's an ancient maxim, "I fear the tollway, even when bringing gifts."

Well, actually, it's "I fear the Greeks, even when bringing gifts," referring to the legendary Trojan horse that Greek warriors used to secretly enter Troy. The Trojans got so excited about receiving a big wooden horse, they didn't realize the oversized object d'art concealed a vengeful horde ready to sack the city.

What's my point?

Well, you'd think plans by Gov. Rod Blagojevich and the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority to create carpooling lanes would generate dancing in the streets and hugging of trees.

But reactions have been wary by some, including members of the Transportation Management Association of Lake-Cook.

The tollway intends to establish "Green Lanes" on heavily traveled sections of I-355, the Tri-State, I-88 and the Jane Addams in 2010. The plan would mean installing Green Lanes in each direction on existing lanes over 80 miles of the four tollways.

Tollway engineers at a TMA event Thursday took a lot of questions on the proposal.

Randy Damrow, a TMA director who works at Underwriters Laboratories in Northbrook, wondered about the fairness of making tollway regulars suffer through construction on the Tri-State to widen it from four lanes to three, only to have one yanked away for carpooling.

"Didn't we have 'four for the future?'" Damrow asked. "It seems it's all about the money."

While vehicles with two or more occupants could use the Green Lanes without extra fees, owners of energy-efficient cars, such as the Prius, would be charged a slightly higher toll, and regular cars with single drivers would pay through the nose for the privilege.

Bill Baltutis, TMA executive director, was concerned that if the carpooling lanes aren't popular, it will lead to congestion on the other three. "The devil's in the details," Baltutis said.

The Green Lanes program will reduce air pollution, decrease cars on the roads and move drivers around the metropolitan area faster, officials contend.

While supporting the concept of carpooling, some watchdog groups argue letting single drivers use the Green Lanes at a price is counterproductive. They worry that recent snafus involving incorrect charges on people's I-PASS accounts doesn't bode well for collecting Green Lanes fees.

The intricacies of carpooling may be new for Illinois but not in other states.

The Minnesota Department of Transportation offers high-occupany lanes on its I-35W freeway and I-394 tollway in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area.

The freeway carpool lane is open to buses and vehicles with two or more occupants while violators face fines of $142. The high-occupancy tollway lane is free for carpoolers while single drivers pay.

"It has worked, it gives the traveling public a choice," MDOT communications director Kevin Gutknecht said.

Minnesota, however, says no to giving single drivers of energy-efficient vehicles access to carpooling lanes.

It used to be a Prius was a rarity, but now "there's a lot of hybrids out there," Gutknecht explained. "I can go out and buy a Chevy that's a hybrid. It gets to the point where it's not fair."

Washington State has a similar program to Minnesota's and allows no exceptions for energy-efficient vehicles. Interestingly, voters face a referendum on the ballot Nov. 4 that seeks to open up carpooling lanes to all vehicles during nonpeak hours in the Seattle area.

The grandfather of the carpooling movement is California with high-occupancy vehicles on tollways and freeways. It allows single drivers of energy-efficient cars to use the carpool lanes on tollways but it sets limits on the number. And while the carpool lanes operate 24/7 in Los Angeles, in other parts of the state the hours are limited to rush-hour on weekdays.

Meanwhile, a number of organizations are rallying around the Green Lanes concept. New supporters include the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, Illinois PIRG and the Metropolitan Planning Council.

$CLASS=breakhead$Incoming

• It's getting close to that time to renew your monthly passes for Metra but bring plenty of cash because the agency doesn't accept credit cards. The Transit Riders' Alliance thinks Metra should offer that service and is conducting an on-line petition. To participate, go to http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2228/t/7419/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=1330.

• February seems so far off but not to Chicago Auto Show organizers, who mailed out a glossy reminder recently. The show runs from Feb. 13 to 22. For more information, check out chicagoautoshow.com.

• Reconstruction of the Half Day Road bridge over the Tri-State starts Tuesday as part of the tollway's rewidening project. The eastbound lanes will close and traffic will shift to the westbound lanes.