Q: Dear Honk: I have been driving the 5 Freeway through Orange County and down into northern San Diego County since my college days (class of ’68). At one point, on the northbound side approaching the San Onofre truck scales and the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint, an extra, adjacent lane was constructed to the far left. The mystery lane is divided off from the other lanes with cones, plastic posts and then a low-lying barrier. In all those years since it was built, I have never seen it used. Can you please tell us what the original purpose of the lane was and why it isn’t utilized?

– Gordon Calac, Irvine

A: Yes.

Called the Pre-enrolled Access Lane, or PAL, it might have been the only one in the country when put in back in 2001.

The goal was to allow qualified drivers to bypass slowing

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