Marriage is under threat, not from gays looking for wedded bliss, but from a cash-strapped Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA). I’ve long been of the opinion that one of the main reasons people in Southern California marry is so they’ll always have access to the second person needed to use the carpool lane. But now the MTA is planning to turn carpool lanes into mini-toll roads, undermining the whole diamond wedding ring is the key to the diamond lane thing. And one of the first stretches of freeway targeted to become less free is the 110.

The MTA sees this as a brilliant money-making opportunity (after, of course, it spends approximately $100 million to convert the carpool lanes into toll lanes). “We’re just too congested to turn our backs on that kind of opportunity,” the MTA’s chief planning officer tells the L.A. Times.

But what about the conversion’s effect on transportation (which is, after all, the MTA’s middle name)?

“The likely result is more congestion and more traffic on all the other lanes, which means the majority of people will have worse delays and worse commutes,” said Steve Finnegan, government affairs manager for the Automobile Club of Southern California.

Carpool lanes were created to reward environmentally-responsible behavior. Converting them into toll lanes makes them reward greater disposable income instead. Is it any wonder that the Bush administration is promoting the idea?

Tags: 110, Automobile Club of Southern California, carpool lanes, HOV, marriage, Metropolitan Transportation Agency, MTA, toll roads