Q: I drive I-95 from West Palm Beach to Griffin Road and back. Are the HOV rules in effect on this entire stretch? Occasionally I see only one person in the car driving in those lanes at rush hour.

Laura Kurtzman, Boynton Beach

A: The HOV rules currently are in effect from 7 to 9 a.m. and 4 to 6 p.m. weekdays from Sunrise Boulevard to Jupiter in Palm Beach County.

The state suspended the rules from Sunrise to the Golden Glades interchange in May 2011 because of the express lane construction.

However, that led to confusion among drivers and even the Florida Highway Patrol because the contractor left up the HOV signs between Griffin Road and Sunrise Boulevard, since most of the express lane construction has occurred south of Griffin.

A Florida Highway Patrol spokesman has said troopers have been instructed not to enforce HOV rules south of Sunrise.

That will change when the express lane construction is finished later this year. The new start and end point for the HOV lanes will be just south of Broward Boulevard. Signs on northbound I-95 are already in place indicating this. They’re in place on southbound I-95 as well, on an overhead structure just south of Broward Boulevard, but are covered up until the express lanes are finished.

“We will issue releases clarifying the limits of both the express lanes and HOVs” as construction winds up on the current project and begins on another project to extend the express lanes into northern Broward County, said Florida Department of Transportation spokeswoman Barbara Kelleher.

“In general, motorists should obey the posted signs,” she said.

Q: Blinking red arrows have been replaced by solid red arrows in the turn lanes on Commercial Boulevard at Northeast 18th Street in Fort Lauderdale. At night, traffic on Commercial is lighter but the solid red arrows prohibit left turns. Are there any plans to return the blinking arrows?

Don Wright, Pompano Beach

A: Actually, the intersection has operated with solid red arrows since 2006, when the Florida Department of Transportation resurfaced this stretch of Commercial.

Before 2006, the signal operated in what is called a “protected/permissive” phase in which left turns can be made on a green arrow and after the arrow ends as long as motorists yield to oncoming traffic.

Until about two years ago, there was a flashing emergency signal about 150 feet east of Commercial and Northeast 18th Strreet. But the signal was moved another 750 feet east along Commercial when Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue’s new Station No. 35 opened at 1969 E. Commercial.

Q: Could a traffic signal be installed on Southwest 81st Avenue at Southwest 17th Street, which is between McNab and Bailey roads? I live on 81st and there are no traffic lights along that stretch. There’s a school and Publix that empties traffic onto the street.

Florence Birnbaum, North Lauderdale

A: Sorry, Broward County traffic engineers studied the intersection in 2006 and found that traffic did not meet the criteria for a signal.

Both the school and Publix were constructed and in operation prior to the county’s study.

County officials say both roads are under the jurisdiction of the city of North Lauderdale, which has not requested for another study to be done.

, 954-356-4155, Twitter @MikeTurnpike, Facebook at