In Oakland, transportation officials are gearing up to transform the far-left lane westbound Interstate 580 into a carpool lane next week. The transformation will begin starting Monday. The carpool lane will cover a 2.3-mile stretch of westbound I-580 and will run from Piedmont Avenue under cross ing to the MacArthur Maze where Diamond Lane currently begins. “We hope that more people will ride the bus and more people will carpool. We’ll be able to get more people to the Bay Bridge and across the Bay Bridge, but do so in fewer cars,” said John Goodwin, with the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. “It could lead to some congestion sure because if people aren’t carpooling, there will be more congestion, but I think it’s a small price to pay to get more cars off the road in general,” said Jona Finger, carpool advocate. Finger acknowledges taking away an existing lane and turning into a carpool-only lane may initially lead to more traffic, but he hopes it will be the nudge people need to start riding sharing. “Maybe this is something that will help people look at the alternatives,” he said. Finger is a huge advocate for casual carpooling. He hopes the addition of a new car pool lane will help revive casual carpooling, which was a popular alternative before the pandemic. “It’s just an informal system where we stand at certain curbs by BART stations and people pick us up and take us into the city,” he said. River Murillo and his buddy said they’ll definitely take advantage of the new carpool lane. They added it’ll save them time and money. “It’s more affordable on us. It cuts down on gas and right now. If you look at the gas prices, they’re not cheap,” Murillo said. The lane will take six months to complete. Transportation leaders hope for it to be ready in October. ...read more read less