TROY, Mich. (WXYZ) — Do you carpool to work on I-75? That is what the Michigan Department of Transportation wants to know.
Watch the full story from Ali Hoxie in the video player below
The carpool lanes, or high-occupancy vehicle lanes (HOV), opened in the fall of 2023 between 12 Mile and South Boulevard. Now, MDOT wants your feedback to see if the HOV lanes have influenced traffic patterns.
This is an anonymous survey, so MDOT wants your honest opinions. I also found some people willing to share their honest opinions on the I-75 carpooling lanes.
“It’s not good, they didn’t warn people enough to use it," said driver Kip Eads.
Eads lives in Troy and says he takes I-75 every day. He feels the carpool lanes are causing more confusion, rather than helping alleviate congestion.
“It’s a mess. It’s a mess all the way down, every single day you watch people," Eads told me. "It’s just — they are either using it, not using it, using it the wrong way, they weren’t told how to use it I don’t think the correct way.”
Kip isn't alone. I spoke with others who didn't know that outside of the carpooling hours, the lane can be used as a fourth lane of traffic without someone else in the car.
“Do you know that you can use that fourth lane outside the morning commute and the afternoon commute?” I asked Shelvy Lusk from Hazel Park and Ernest Almeranti from Troy.
"No, I did not know that," Lusk said.
“I didn’t know that, I just used it when I intently had someone else in the car with me," Almeranti said.
Rob Morosi is a spokesperson for the Michigan Department of Transportation.
“The more knowledge people have about the HOV the more successful it will be," Morosi said.
“Have you gotten any feedback at all from just the general public, so far?” I asked Rob.
“We have, yes we have, a couple of things that we have noticed, one there is some confusion between the Flex Routes that we put in on US-23 and I-96, and the HOV lane," Rob replied.
So what's the difference? Let me break it down for you. You can use the carpooling lanes when driving solo, outside of the morning commute (6 a.m.-9 a.m.) and the afternoon commute (3 p.m.-6 p.m.)
Driver shave from now until the end of June to take an anonymous survey, and give feedback on the I-75 carpooling lanes.
MDOT wants to know if people find the lanes to be convenient, if they're time-saving, if they're being used correctly and more. Your feedback could determine if the HOV lanes become more common in Michigan.
“What we are looking for from this survey is more information on how people feel about HOV lanes because they could be implemented in other areas of the state if we were to have a project that would add an additional lane," Morosi said.
“No, I would just say for speed," Almeranto said when asked about the benefits of the lanes, saying he likes being able to cruise and pass other drivers. "I think that is the intent of it, isn’t it?”
You can take the survey for yourself at this link.
