After Years and Years Of Construction, Florida Just Repealed All HOV Lanes. Seriously.
UPDATE JULY 1, 2025: New information from the Florida Department of Transportation is in our update, here.
UPDATE: We note that this seems to have taken FDOT by surprise. We requested clarification mid-afternoon on Monday, we were told that a statement would be issued, but as of 8 p.m. there’s still nothing.
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2025 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — HOV lanes in Florida will become a thing of the past on July 1, 2025 — at least according to a just-passed senate bill that’s been signed into law by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. SB 1662 takes effect on Tuesday. It repeals HOV lanes in Florida. To put it another way, the likely hundreds of millions of dollars that have been spent on HOV lane roadwork– and thousands of hours spent sitting in traffic due to HOV lane roadwork — will be for nothing.
The law, which repeals HOV lanes by name, does not specifically single out “express lanes.” So it is entirely possible that HOV lanes will remain (or become) toll roads, with no exemption for High Occupancy Vehicles or Electric/Hybrid vehicles. We are awaiting official word from the Florida Department of Transportation. It’s also unclear what happens to 95Express, the program that specifically exempts HOV and EVs from paying tolls in the express lanes in Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade.
Wondering what happens to your HOV sticker? Here’s what was transmitted from Palm Beach County Tax Collector Anne Gannon Monday afternoon: “Palm Beach County Tax Collector, Anne M. Gannon advises the public that due to the Florida legislature passing SB 1662, repealing Section 316.0741, Florida Statute, effective July 1, 2025, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles will no longer be issuing, renewing, or replacing High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) decals.Vehicle owners who have in the past received this decal with their vehicle registration, will no longer receive it, as it is no longer required.
“My goal is to inform Palm Beach County vehicle owners of this change to avoid unnecessary calls into our office questioning their HOV decal. We are complying with this recent change to the law, and we have ceased issuing HOV decals,” says Gannon.
It’s unclear why lawmakers and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis thought repealing HOV lanes — which benefited drivers and the State of Florida’s budget — would be a positive move.
Like most laws by this state legislature, it makes no sense. Waste of effort by them and a waste of taxpayers money!
What never made sense is to spend countless resources and money on the HOV lane so then it can be restricted at the hours when it is needed the most. HOV demise is beyond overdue
DeSantis is a fool. He should be rewarding people who carpool.
Those who carpool are already rewarded by not putting additional wear and tear on their own vehicle. They also benefit by paying less in gas, assuming they pay the driver any money for the gas. And nobody carpools because there is an HOV lane that restricts all other drivers between 7AM~9AM and 4PM~6PM on I95 in South Florida… It was nothing more than a cash grab and wasted tens of thousands of hours from highway patrol’s time to ticket people for riding in the lane. Not only that, but when a person gets pulled over for being in that lane, and there are cars parked on the emergency lane during the ticketing process, that becomes a serious road hazard. It also slows down traffic as a result…
Getting rid of the HOV lane would be one of the smartest things Desantis could do for the state of Florida… Next he should go after the paid express lanes. What a joke that is. The accidents that result from that lane are very bad. The back ups that result in having the paid express lanes by taking away one or two lanes from normal traffic is sickening… People who run the transportation department don’t know anything about efficiency….
I agree that the paid 95 Express lanes have made traffic worse in Broward and Palm Beach. They need to widen 95.
100% correct.
I drive from Jupiter to Miami airport about 6 times/week and the express lanes, ESPECIALLY in Miami Northbound I95 express where they price gauge and get away with it.
You realize they’re just going to change all the HOV lanes into paid lanes. They’re not going to get rid of the paid express lanes. This will just create more paid express lanes.
All roads in Florida should be free to everyone.No tolls no h o v’s traffic would move much easier this way
Can you now replace desantis and hhe puppet senate . That would be s fair trade hov and get rid of them
Fort Myers, Florida has become the Racetrack of America. Road Rage is on the increase because of the building Townhomes everywhere. Traffic is at a standstill in so many areas. Alot of residents have left Florida due to Taxes on everything. S.W. Florida was never meant to explode with too many people and the roads can’t hold the traffic. Wish I could move, hate the ice cold winters. Welcome to nightmare city!
Another waste of money by the government! Ridiculous. All money spent on the roads was for nothing?
I never use the lanes myself, but it did seem to help with traffic. I am not understanding why the Florida government would do this. It is extra income for the State of Florida. Why??? All of that money spent on construction of the lanes just to throw it all away. It doesn’t make sense.
This is fantastic. And unlike you fools think, this will reduce congestion and reduce emissions.
It would make sense if DeSantis turns the HOV lanes into Express Lanes. We do need to keep those and that will mean not all the money spent on construction will be wasted and revenue can still be captured with Express.
Absolutely NOT. Open the highway WIDE open like it should. Collecting .50 in each city is STUPID and causes congestion on the non express lanes. I can give you 100 different reasons to eliminate express lanes especially the Boca entrance where I have seen multiple erratic, last minute swirving.
Focus on the the “geniuses” that drive 55mph in the far left passing lane that can’t read English….Slower traffic move to right, IT’S THE LAW and truck drivers who can’t read….NO trucks 3 or more axles left 2 lanes.
In my opinion, doing away with the HOV lanes is just plain stupid. The HOV lane , lightens up the remaining lanes being used on the same highway. The HOV lanes generates revenue for the city of Miami and the state of Florida
So few actually used the HOV lanes as designed. With tinted windows most drivers were single occupants. So now they will be paid express lanes for those who choose to pay extra. It is very simple to understand. Well except for the many readers and the publisher of this article.
I am betting they rather turn them into paid toll express lanes. It will make more money for the state.
What about people like myself who paid for the HOV Stickers for 2 years? Will the DOT issue a refund? I agree about people not paying attention to the rules. More than half the vehicles in that lane during HOV times are just single drivers who don’t give a C.Rap about laws.
Almost all of the HOV Lanes down here are already paid Express Lanes. Now those people will have to pay like everyone else does to use those lanes.
What a waste of public money … unless of course the long game was always get them built publicly then turn them over to private firms, which is something I can totally envision.
Bingo! Another handout to DeSantis’ pals’ businesses.
What a shock, the comments are full of people talking with nothing to back up their claim on this being a good thing.
Express lanes are a great way to travel faster for those who earn higher wages and can afford to pay the high rates
Unexpected, but not surprising like the same guy that gets rid of the HOV lanes is the same fool banning books along declaring he was the Boss of who & how FL residents would celebrate one of our Great land marks ,home to Mickey Mouse. As usual follow me the 10 million charity rip off maybe the old saying follow the money is it play here. De Santos Greed for now is insatiable. 40 yr Boca Raton resident. Greed=An Addiction to $$$$$
So Follow the Money Smells MORE OF THE USUALCORRUPTION. WE the People still to find out about the last scandal with Rhonda Santos and his wife with a 10 million charity scandal that he says is a witch Hunt fake news heard those words before yeah we all have
Do you want more congestion??? Add more lanes….
Here’s what I see, Everytime will travel north towards Melbourne leaving Delray Beach, very few cars driving on hov. Long straight stretches 10 or 20 cars jump over and go 90 mph, then jump back over. It’s just plain crazy, make them all express lanes with plate reading cameras, you jump over, you get charged, not hard to understand. Those of you demeaning the Gov, go on back home to New York and enjoy your new Socialist Nightmare Mayor.
There shouldn’t be any charge to drive on a interstate highway. Express lanes should be banned.
Change text books to say Gulf of America. It was Gulf of Mexico before you were a state and who’s the idiot YOUR TRUMPTART GOVERNOR
I feel they should keep and only keep it as an Express meaning if you want to pay to be an express lane then you’re entitled to without having more than two people in a vehicle. Florida needs the revenue for infrastructure Paving the highways to keep our highways nice and smooth. I don’t like sitting in traffic and I will pay to be an express lane. I noticed I’m not a lot of people take the express lane if you want to sacrifice a little to ease up traffic patterns lower the tolls a little bit so this way more cars can be on the express and Florida can still make a little Revenue as a compromise. Otherwise it’s going to look like LA with six Lanes of congested traffic
Good riddance. A lot of cars in HOV lanes were single occupant and law enforcement rarely ticked them. If you are not going to enforce the law, why have it? Convert HOV lanes to Express lanes. Don’t even rename them. Just say HOV and Express are the same thing and start charging for their use. The only thing that bugs me now is why we have to pay to use Express lanes on I-95 when our tax dollars paid to build them.
This is an obvious move by the government to make more money by cutting free HOV lanes. It was a great idea while it lasted, rewarding people with faster travel if they carpooled. But the government needs money and they will make it by charging you tolls for those same lanes. Wake up people.
Good move by the state of Florida, most of the roads in the state has been monetized especially I95 making it difficult for drivers
HOV lanes are too “woke” for the current legislature. They encouraged initiatives that helped with climate change – carpooling and electric/hybrid vehicles. They can’t have that. And instead of doing something that would really help the majority of Floridians like tackle the cost of homeowners insurance, they waste time on things like HOV lanes and demanding that state agencies & schools update materials to say Gulf of America. This latter will only cost the state more and benefits no one. This legislature is a banana republic.
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