Q: Upland resident Marla White said the off-ramp for the westbound 210 Freeway at Base Line Road around the border of Upland and Claremont often backs up the entire ramp.
She noted that there is a “no turn on red” sign there as drivers head west on to Base Line. She believes there is adequate space to add an additional right turn lane and would like Caltrans to do this.
“The cheaters often go into the left lane and cut off those of us patiently waiting our turn or make it the second right turn lane,” White said.
She asked if Caltrans would study the possibility of an additional right turn lane.
A: We passed the reader’s request to Caltrans for consideration.
Caltrans spokesperson Eric Dionne said: “The team is always open to adjusting or addressing certain issues. Our Traffic Operations team would have to perform a traffic study, to see if this request warrants any upgrades to the ramp.”
We hope Caltrans will take a look at the location.
Q: “When I learned to drive many years ago, box trucks and 18 wheelers were limited to the far-right lane (No. 4 lane) except when passing they were allowed to use the No. 3 lane (second-most from the right shoulder),” La Verne resident Scott Ernst said.
He asked if traffic laws have changed so that large trucks and 18 wheelers can now drive in the fast lane and the lane next to it.
“I have noticed a dramatic increase in box trucks and 18 wheelers driving in the No. 1 and No. 2 lanes, where there are four lanes available on the 210 Freeway between Glendora and Rialto,” he said.
A: We recently responded to a letter from another reader with a similar question and complaint about trucks driving in the fast lanes on the 210 around Upland.
The answer here is the same. If big rigs are driving in the third lane over from the right on the 210 in areas with four lanes going in the same direction, they are doing so illegally.
Large trucks can only drive in the two outermost lanes in this case. Big trucks driving in the fast lanes is a recurring problem on many freeways in the Inland Empire, and we hear plenty about it from frustrated readers.
So does the California Highway Patrol, whose officers patrolling the Inland Empire are aware of the problem. They obviously can’t catch every offender, but CHP officers are enforcing violations by truck drivers on freeways and they often do so in targeted operations on a specific freeway all at once. For example, a team of CHP officers from the Rancho Cucamonga office led an enforcement action on the 60 Freeway on Feb. 29 to address citizens’ concerns about commercial vehicle violations.
“Our objective was not to punish commercial vehicle drivers, but to ensure both commercial and non-commercial drivers followed the rules of the road for everyone’s safety,” the Rancho Cucamonga CHP office said on its Facebook page. “We cited 64 violators, both commercial and non-commercial, and impounded one vehicle for a license violation. Additionally, one driver was arrested for DUI.”
The post also shows a photo of a large truck, which was later pulled over, driving in the wrong lane.
Do you commute to work in the Inland Empire? Spend a lot of time in your vehicle? Have questions about driving, freeways, toll roads or parking? If so, write or call On the Road and we’ll try to answer your questions. Please include your question or issue, name, city of residence, phone number and email address. Write ontheroad@scng.com or call us at our new phone number, 951-368-9995.
