Here are answers to some of the questions readers posed last week for Caltrans:
–When will the section of freeway in Cotati change from a 55-MPH zone to a regular 65 zone? Anthony
Caltrans officials said once crews finish putting the final paving and striping on Highway 101 there, they’ll boost the speed limit to 65.
–Why are you stuffing everybody into two lanes at 3pm creating a traffic slowdown when in Marin it’s 4:30 and things run pretty good? Same on the end time too. Steve
Several other readers also asked about carpool lanes, questioning whether they’re needed at all.
Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus basically said the carpool lanes are here to stay and over time more people will take advantage of them. Once the Wilfred Avenue/Commerce Boulevard overpass opens this summer — late August or early September — the carpool lanes will extend from downtown Windsor to northern Petaluma. As a result, Haus said, drivers will realize that by carpooling they can bypass much of the traffic and more will start carpooling. So it’s kind of like “Field of Dreams”: If you build it, they will come.
What was the point of installing metering lights if they are never turned on? Joseph
Haus said the plan is to wait until the 101 widening project is completed. So no firm date on that.
What’s the upcoming sequence of events for the Highway 101 Commerce Blvd. overpass? Will all of the existing lanes be moved to the new bridges? When is this expected to happen? When will both sets of bridges be used? Daniel
By late August or early September, the Wilfred/Commerce project will be finished, and southbound traffic will be moved over to the new overpasses. Caltrans plans some lane shifting before then and will announce them soon.
When are you going to put in the bypass in Willits? We have waited so long for this since at least 1990 since it was brought up to fix our problems. It is unsafe for pedestrians to walk across the street, especially on Fridays. It takes 30 minutes to go one mile, please help. Jill
To read a Press Democrat story on the bypass getting state funding, CLICK HERE.
Caltrans says work could begin late this year with completion in 2016, but environmental groups have sued to stop the project, so the start date is up in the air.
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For other questions, Caltrans asked for time to do some checking, so we’ll publish those answers when they come in.
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Ole Kern
What about metering lights in Marin? Widening has been done there for quite some time and traffic is STILL terrible from Ignacio to Corte Madera! Metering lights are probably the only thing that can help traffic. When will the MARIN metering lights be turned on? When 101 widening is completed sometime at the end of the decade?
June 6th, 2012 10:49 pm
Randy
i wonder if a local initiative could overpower the caltrans carpool lane policy. since we are collecting a local tax to fund the project we might have a say?
June 6th, 2012 11:04 pm
Mike
All this whining about the car pool is completely ignorant. People need to understand that in the long term, real estate is finite resource. We won’t be able to continually widen the freeway as they are doing now. The only way to reduce traffic in the long term is to reduce the number of cars on the road. I’m amazed Caltrans has had the foresight to realize this and is giving everyone the opportunity to get used to it one lane at a time. Everyone complains that government always attempts to fix hatchet wounds with band aids yet here we have an occasion where they have actually attempted to create a valid long term solution and people are too ignorant to think about things beyond their 15 minute drive home.
June 7th, 2012 2:39 pm