With the opening of Highway 101′s extra lanes in Rohnert Park, some readers have written in wondering when metering lights will be turned on at onramps.
The answer is “it’s a few years away,” said Doanh Nguyen, Caltrans’ principal transportation engineer/division chief of project management for the North Bay.
The metering lights have been installed as Caltrans widened the highway through Sonoma County. None of the lights are in operation, and many, if not most, are turned to the side, away from drivers.
Nguyen said metering lights, which regulate traffic flow onto the highway, were installed because they part of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s traffic plan for the entire Bay Area.
But before considering whether to turn them on, he said, Caltrans will have to complete yet-to-be-started highway projects in Petaluma, including widening the highway, replacing the Petaluma River bridge and redoing the Petaluma Boulevard North/Old Redwood Highway interchange because those projects will play a role in how traffic flow is regulated along Highway 101
He said Caltrans then will need to get approval of cities along the widened 101, the MTC and Sonoma County Transportation Authority because the metering can affect local street traffic.
Nguyen noted work on Interstate 80 in Solano County has been completed but Caltrans is still working on reaching agreements with local governments there for metering lights.
————
Follow the Road Warrior on Twitter via @PDRoadWarrior
Joseph
Millions of dollars spent on a much needed solution, in place and operational, yet the answer is no we will not provide the solution. Furthermore we will allow the solution to be held hostage by the cities in which the highway passes. God forbid we should backup traffic on surface streets do to the local city’s failure to plan accordingly for their own traffic problems and allow them to use an interstate highway as a local solution to their local problem of poor leadership.
Well at least the copper thieves will have easy pickings and tax payers can spend millions more replacing what is stolen from the public. Who however is going to replace our lost time sitting in traffic?
September 3rd, 2012 5:31 pm
jawbreaker
Another MASSIVE waste of tax monies.
September 3rd, 2012 6:07 pm
Me again
This is a waste of time, all this does is move the problem from one place to another ,waste of taxpayers cash,
September 3rd, 2012 8:16 pm
dave
They can’t regulate traffic until the bridges are replaced….why?
September 3rd, 2012 8:31 pm
Zuma
So in other words the road wont be fully operational until the 22nd century! And that is if someone puts a fire under Caltrans and corrupt local govts!
September 4th, 2012 5:08 am
BigDogatPlay
Sure, go ahead and turn the metering lights on. Right after you eliminate the underutilized car pool lanes, which aren’t doing a thing to improve traffic flow at peak periods, that MTC required as well.
Traffic management at the micro level by the Commissariat of Transportation, in action. And further waste of our tax dollars.
September 4th, 2012 6:14 am
Srman
This is pretty funny. None of the on ramps in Santa Rosa or Petaluma are long enough to handle a metering light back up. This will be especially humorous on any of the on-ramps from hwy 12 to 101, which are already a disaster due to poor design.
Politicians at their best in CA, lol.
September 4th, 2012 7:25 am
Stuck in the Narrows
The entire project from Marin to Santa Rosa is a joke. The new carpool lane in Marin actually makes the narrows WORSE! Does anyone at CalTrans have ANY clue as to how bad this situation is? Its the worst traffic snarl in the entire Bay Area and nothing is getting done. The metering lights need to be activiated ASAP, otherwise the entire corridor is just one giant merge.
September 4th, 2012 8:11 am
Steve
During rush hour the HOV lane is empty.
September 4th, 2012 8:43 am
G
I like how the article states that Cal Trans installed these meters, yet never bothered to discuss possible problems and interruptions for city traffic with the City. Morons.
Furthermore, does anyone really think that people will obey the metering lights in this county? It will just be yet another pretty light ignored as someone doesn’t use their turn signal and cut off a big truck, just narrowly missing the back wheel of a cyclist that was riding on the sidewalk going the wrong direction.
September 4th, 2012 9:33 am
Bill
These knuckle at Cal Trans all need to be fired, one of the biggest waste of tax payers time and money on record, shame on them.
September 4th, 2012 6:10 pm
Jack Riggen
Well, that answers a question that I had after thinking that metering lights would definitely help with the afternoon backup between the northbound Santa Rosa Ave exit and 12. It seems that traffic coming onto NB 101 from Yolanda and Colgan bunches up and causes a pretty predictable undulation in traffic all the way back to the Golf Course curve. Metering lights might help, but I can definitely see how this would impact surface traffic at these intersections.
What a mess. I guess this is part of the high price we pay for living in “paradise”.
October 14th, 2012 8:55 am