Highway 101 Construction: Slow Progress

After nearly 10 years of construction, Caltrans this month opened the seven-mile stretch of north and southbound commuter lanes on Highway 101 from Rohnert Park Expressway to Old Redwood Highway.

The $82 million project — funded in part by roughly $80 million from voter-approved Proposition 1B transportation bonds and additional funds from Sonoma County’s Measure M quarter-cent transportation sales tax — opened early, transportation officials said, to "provide congestion relief before the upcoming winter."

Caltrans said in a news release that "the rest of the project, including the final paving, striping and new guardrails is expected to finish next summer." The recently-opened High Occupancy Vehicle lanes will close again during noncommute hours to finish paving.

Rohnert Park Mayor Jake Mackenzie said in an op-ed published in a the Press Democrat last week that "construction on Highway 101 has become something of a given these past few years."

But the work isn't finished. Mackenzie wrote:

"As you may have seen, highway widening work has begun in Marin County which will extend the carpool lane and help move traffic through Novato. This will benefit drivers exiting the freeway in Novato and thus will reduce the number of cars lining up. This project used Marin County funds to leverage state funds and get under construction quickly."

"In Sonoma County, two new projects will begin construction in the coming months — adding new onramps at the East Washington interchange and replacing the Petaluma Boulevard South Interchange and Petaluma River Bridge."

"However, we are still left with a gap. In order to complete the carpool lanes in Petaluma and across the county line, we need to secure approximately $250 million. This will not be easy given the lack of a federal transportation bill, the elimination of earmarks and the state of the California's finances."

Read Mackenzie's full letter to the Press Democrat here.

Caltrans and the Sonoma County Transportation Authority called the projects a viable alternative to solo commuting.

“Thanks to this investment in the state highway system, travelers through Sonoma County will see a decrease in congestion and an improvement in air quality,” said Malcolm Dougherty, who is the Caltrans acting director.