As a daily commuter, John Kissel experiences the frustrations of snarled highway traffic. So, as a state senator from north central Connecticut Kissel has a solution: Open High Occupancy Vehicle lanes to single-passenger vehicles during rush hour and accidents.
Kissel, a Republican, has proposed a bill that would allow everyone to use the HOV lanes from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on weekdays.
The General Assembly’s Transportation Committee is scheduled to meet Monday to hear testimony on that bill and others during a public hearing.
The state’s first HOV lane opened in 1989 east of Hartford, along I-84 and I-384. In 1993, lanes opened north of Hartford, along I-91.
Kissel says the experiment has not encouraged enough people to carpool and it makes sense to use the lanes to end gridlock.
