Perhaps spurred by the anti-HOV lane revolt in New Jersey, two Nassau County legislators questioned the benefits of HOV lanes at a press conference Tuesday. Steve Levy and Lisanne Altmann called on the NY State DOT to investigate the merits of carpool lanes versus opening the existing Long Island Expressway HOV lane to all traffic, or even adding a fifth lane to the L.I.E.

The elected officials challenged DOT to try a real-world, several month experiment of opening the L.I.E. carpool lane to general traffic.

NYSDOT, which plans to extend the L.I.E. carpool lane by widening the expressway between Jericho and Queens, dismissed the legislators' request .

Echoing statements from New Jersey, Levy and Altmann criticized under-use of the L.I.E. HOV lanes.