<I'd thought it might be a good idea. Turns out that it does not work. But of course ideologist and beaurecrats still threaten the loss of all highway funds if HOVs are removed.

(Speaking from the People's Republic of California, Land of Many Diamond Lanes and Dumbass Mass Transit Projects:)

Doesn't really matter if HOVs work or not. Whether or not something works has never been an important factor for the social engineers and their ilk. I could fill pages with government programs that have either had no measurable results or even horribly negative results. So could you. But it makes no difference to the advocates.

Intentions not only apparently matter far more than results, but results often don't matter at all. This irrational mental disconnect is one of the most obvious things about these people, and one of the reasons that arguing with many of them is as productive as a debate session with a bowl of wax fruit, and just as frustrating.

...According to an MnDot press release, federal officials feared it would "erode popular transit incentives... and have a serious detrimental affect on future use and acceptance of HOV facilities."

Their main concern is if you prove the concept is a load of horse exhaust, that it will prevent them from instituting it in future situations. If you show it doesn't work, people might not let them try it over and over again.

Is there a working forebrain in the house?

What was that one definition of "insanity?"

The repetitive history of socialist and other collectivist regimes on this planet is the most telling proof of this on an international scale. On a local scale, find me one single major mass transit system that actually MAKES money.