LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — It's been a week since the Nevada Department Of Transportation changed the hours of operation for HOV lanes.
Opening up HOV lanes is something city, state, and county leaders have been talking about doing for years with a big push from community members asking to make it happen.
But now that it's in effect, it appears a lot of drivers don't know about it.
Here are the new rules.
From Monday through Friday, there's a four-hour window where you must have two or more people in the car to drive in the HOV lanes.
That's from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Aside from those hours, drivers are free to use the HOV lanes without a passenger in your car.
The HOV lanes are also open on weekends.
Transportation officials said they hope it will ease congestion on our roadways but some rules remain in place.
"One question that comes up a lot is are you allowed to cross the double white line? No. You're not. You're never allowed to cross the double white line," said Justin Hopkins, NDOT's public information officer. "If you are going to jump in that lane, you do have to wait for the broken white line to get in and out."
The transportation board made the decision to change HOV lane hours after reviewing preliminary data that NDOT has been gathering using sensors in the HOV lanes, which likely showed most Nevadans just aren't carpooling.
NDOT has also changed about 50 static signs and the agency said they're also adding messaging about the new hours on automated reader boards.
