New, Longer Carpool Hours ​​On US-101 Between Santa Rosa And Petaluma Surprise Commuters, Stir Rumors

PETALUMA, CA — New and longer carpool hours on US-101 surprised Sonoma County commuters returning to the roadways after the long Labor Day weekend.

Carpool lanes now takes up nine hours of the day on the Marin Sonoma Narrows, a roadway shared by compact cars, SUVs, utility trucks, and big-wheel trailer trucks hauling cargo.

The weekday hours are 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. mornings and 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. evenings.

Previously the hours were 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. to 6:30 p.m.

The change began in July but some commuters only noticed the hours on Tuesday when they saw electronic message boards installed by Caltrans to alert drivers to the new schedule. "However, not everyone has seen this sign," officials noted.

"The 'extended' HOV carpool lane hours on the 101 suck, commented one commuter, Lorna Louise, on Facebook, using the abbreviation for High-Occupancy Vehicle. "Just making traffic worse."

"I see a lot of carpool violations. Those times are ridiculous," another woman commented.

Caltrans officials said there are no plans to convert the lanes into paid express lanes that exist on other roadways.

Caltrans has received calls about the new hours. Currently the carpool lanes in Marin and Sonoma counties operate at different times. The new hours are aimed at making the hours in both counties consistent, Caltrans spokesman Jeff Weiss said.

The Marin-Sonoma Narrows Project is often referred to as a “gap closure” project, as it closes a 17-mile gap in the Highway 101 carpool lanes between Novato and Petaluma.

The new hours cap years of roadwork on the Petaluma Widening Project connecting a four-mile stretch of carpool lanes between the Marin-Sonoma border and Lakeville Highway, and a 22-mile section of carpool lanes between Old Redwood Highway and downtown Windsor. Closing this gap creates 30-mile carpool lanes in each direction.