Joe from Littleton writes, “What's driving you crazy? Is there any enforcement of the HOV lane that runs on Santa Fe from Mississippi to Bowles? Are there any planned changes to make it not HOV, or expand it to HOV full time as it seems enforcement during specific times is impractical and non-existent?”
There are two separate and distinct issues here Joe — enforcement and improvement.
Let’s start with enforcement. The issue with enforcement along South Santa Fe Drive is that it is patrolled by four different cities: Denver, Englewood, Sheridan and Littleton.
The Santa Fe High Occupancy Vehicle lanes were the first to be tried in metro Denver. They were completed in the late 90s with the HOV restriction set only for specific commute times. In the morning, the HOV is in effect for northbound traffic between 6 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. The restriction for southbound traffic is only in effect in the afternoon between 4 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. Outside of those times, anyone can use the lane. Buses, carpools, motorcycles and all vehicles making left turns are permitted to use the HOV lane during the restricted hours, according to CDOT.
Denver has the northern portion of Santa Fe. The HOV starts for southbound traffic just before Mississippi Ave. near the McDonalds. The northbound HOV lane ends north of Mississippi at the split for northbound I-25. DPD is in charge of enforcement from there to where Yale Ave. would cross Santa Fe, just before the Shell station north of Dartmouth Ave.
“It is difficult to monitor the occupancy in the HOV lane given its location on the far left side of the road," Sean Towel with Denver police said. "However, the priority for the department is enforcing traffic violations that directly impact safety on the street, such as speeding and reckless driving.”
You will see even less to nearly zero enforcement of HOV violations in Denver now that Denver police announced a shift in policy away from low-level traffic stops to prioritize 'bigger threats to public safety.' Enforcing the HOV lane is not, in the view of Denver police, a threat to public safety.
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The City of Englewood has jurisdiction over two sections of Santa Fe. The first starts just north of Dartmouth, from the Denver line to Hampden Ave (U.S. Route 285). They also oversee the section of Santa Fe between Quincy and Santa Fe Circle or just south of Union Ave. Matthew Thuente, Investigator with the Englewood Police Department tells me they very rarely monitor the HOV lane for single occupancy vehicle violations due to limited resources, officer safety, and the size of their enforcement area.
“These challenges complicate enforcement, including the high volume of traffic, the danger posed by road debris to officers on motorcycles, and the difficulty in safely stopping violators as drivers often do not pull over to the right. Additionally, the HOV lane sections are divided between jurisdictions, including Littleton and Sheridan, which makes it hard for officers to set up and survey the lane effectively.”
Investigator Thuente tells me even with the enforcement challenges and that HOV lane enforcement is not a top priority for their officers, they have written a handful of tickets to violators. Englewood police say their primary focus is on safety related issues, high accident locations, and violations that directly lead to accidents.
The short, 8 block section of Santa Fe between Hampden Ave (US 285) and Quincy is in the city of Sheridan. Police Chief Jeffrey A. Martinez tells me their officers are aware of the problems that HOV violators cause but face operational challenges with enforcement.
“On occasion, the Sergeants set up traffic enforcement operations on Santa Fe but there are very few safe places for officers to conduct stationary traffic, therefore the enforcement of HOV lanes is very difficult. Our officers will drive this area looking to enforce this traffic concern, but they must maintain relative speeds to the others on the road and within a minute or two they are out of the Sheridan jurisdiction. This small area in Sheridan makes this an extremely difficult area to enforce the HOV violation.”
Similar to Denver Police, Chief Martinez tells me looking for violators in the HOV lane is a low priority for them. He says his department must prioritize officers’ ability to be effective in serving the public, and although he says enforcement of the HOV lane is important, their efforts typically yield nominal returns. “It is quite dangerous for our officers to set up in the 8-block area. The hours that the HOV laws are in effect are during the “rush hours”, and SPD usually avoids static enforcement during these hours, so we don’t contribute to the traffic problems that visible enforcement causes to the interruption of traffic.”
The southern section of HOV lanes ends in Littleton, just before Bowles Ave. I spoke with Sheera Poelman, Public Information Officer with the Littleton Police Department. She tells me while they will not hesitate to enforce the law when an officer witnesses a violation, most of the city officers are patrolling more sensitive areas of the city and not the HOV lanes. “The City of Littleton recently embarked on a ‘Safer Streets Littleton’ effort with the sole focus of improving pedestrian and bicyclist safety through an accelerated pace of infrastructure upgrades, increased traffic enforcement, and public education. Therefore, we have dedicated our directed traffic enforcement patrols to school zones and intersections that will have the most impact and keep our most vulnerable as safe as possible.”
Sheera tells me the city is hiring officers and when fully staffed they will be able to increase patrols across the city. She tells me one of the issues with enforcement along Santa Fe is, like the city of Sheridan, only a small portion, a bit over 1 mile of the HOV lane is in Littleton and it has always been challenging finding a safe place to position the officers to watch for HOV violations. Since 2021, LPD has written only 3 HOV citations, none from this year.
By the way, if a single driver was caught using the HOV lane when it is in effect, Denver Police say a citation would be 0 points and a $135.00 fine.
As to your second question Joe, currently to use the HOV lane along South Santa Fe, all you need is one additional person in the vehicle along with the driver. All other HOV lanes in Metro Denver require at least 3 people to be in the vehicle. CDOT says one strategy to improve the use of this specific HOV lane would be to modify the types of vehicles that would be allowed to use it as well as change the occupancy requirements. CDOT says this strategy has been used nationally to address HOV lane utilization, especially when upgrading HOV lanes to high occupancy toll (HOT) lanes. HOT lanes allow a single driver to use the lane for a toll, thus increasing the utilization of the lane. It also has the effect of decreasing travel times for paying customers and removing vehicles from the more congested free lanes.
It wasn’t long after the HOV lane was operational that there were efforts to turn it back to a general purpose lane. In a federal Air Quality Implementation Plan document from May, 2001, it stated, “We also note that in his November 30, 2000, letter, the Governor (Romer) asked that we parallel process a potential alternative provision for the maintenance plan that had been proposed by the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT). CDOT's alternative provision involved the conversion of the Santa Fe Boulevard High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes to general service lanes and the provision of funds to provide additional light rail transit cars to compensate for the loss of the HOV emission reductions. However, in a December 6, 2000, letter (that we received on December 19, 2000) from CDOT to the Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC), CDOT withdrew its request for this alternative provision indicating that it could not guarantee light rail transit cars to replace the HOV lanes.”
The Santa Fe HOV lanes have remained unchanged since then, but there are new ideas on the horizon that can be found in CDOT’s 2022 Planning and Environmental Linkages Study. In that document, there is acknowledgment that the existing HOV lanes on Santa Fe are underutilized and that a high number of users of the lanes during peak hours are single occupancy violators. CDOT also cites design challenges with keeping violators out of the lane. “The existing HOV express lane creates operational issues with weaving maneuvers and lane changes due to the need for left turning traffic to utilize the lane, and the need for HOV express lane traffic to stop at the signalized intersections.”
There is widespread agreement by municipalities along the South Santa Fe corridor that this HOV lane could be utilized better than it is right now. CDOT says the operation of the HOV lane was identified by the public and corridor stakeholders as a critical issue for overall performance and safety. In CDOT’s 2021 HOV Lane Evaluation White Paper, they outlined several ideas as to what could be the best solution to the current HOV lane situation. Those suggested alternatives include:
1. Maintaining the HOV lane with design/operational adjustments to improve operations and safety. Lowest cost while still improving operations and safety; no ability to dynamically manage demand.
2. Conversion of existing HOV lane to a general purpose lane. Removes the need for enforcement and provides improved traffic operations and safety; requires legislation; no ability to dynamically manage demand.
3. Relocation of the HOV lane from the left lane to the right lane. Reduces left turn weaving conflicts; improves ability to enforce HOV lane; no ability to dynamically manage demand.
4. Enhanced at-grade managed lanes from C-470 to I-25. Ability to dynamically manage demand and collect toll revenue; paying users still experience delay at signalized intersections.
5. Enhanced managed lanes from C-470 to I-25 including grade separation at major intersections. Ability to dynamically manage demand and collect toll revenue; costly with grade separations for HOT lane.
CDOT says bus rapid transit (BRT) service that would utilize the existing HOV lane was not considered during the alternatives evaluation as it would be redundant to the adjacent RTD light rail service, however, a regional bus service could be considered during future planning efforts for the express lane.
While no plan has been chosen as of yet, CDOT says they are continuing to work to prepare for when a plan of action is decided on. After that, money needs to be identified to complete any work so any changes to Santa Fe would be many, many years down the road.
Denver7 Traffic Expert Jayson Luber says he has been covering Denver-metro traffic since Ben-Hur was driving a chariot. (We believe the actual number is over 25 years.) He's obsessed with letting viewers know what's happening on their drive and the best way to avoid the problems that spring up. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram or listen to his award winning Driving You Crazy podcast on any podcast app including iTunes, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Podbean, or YouTube.