I commute from LA to Irvine and on the way home around 3pm take the 5 south and once I hit Orange County near the 91 freeway the carpool lane is usually smooth sailing.

However, occasionally the carpool lane backs up in Santa Ana, probably because of the Main street exit/entrance into the car pool, and this part of the carpool is a single protected lane with K rails on each side...

Just curious if other riders stay in the carpool during this protected section and if so do you pass/split if traffic backs up?

or do you exit the carpool lane prior to the K-rail and use the number 2 lane so you can still split between 2-3 lanes?

 

Rode thru there yesterday, early in the am. Traffic was rolling along at 80-85. In the carpool lane.

 

merging seems difficult for some drivers I usually just pass on the right at a conservative speed

 

I hear you, always make it a point to exit the carpool lane before that I get trapped in there before that Main street exit. There never seems to be any advantage of being in the carpool lane there.