Driving through Ukiah on Highway 101 will be a little different today.

Caltrans crews are to be out this morning putting up three signs that will give northbound drivers new instructions to help speed the flow of traffic through Ukiah.

Two signs — one a quarter-mile south of Talmage Road and the other a quarter-mile south of North State Street — will advise “THRU TRAFFIC USE LEFT LANE” and the third sign, just south of the North State Street onramp, will warn of “MERGING TRAFFIC AHEAD.”

Caltrans spokesman Phil Frisbie Jr. said the new signs are an attempt to avoid any entanglements of drivers getting on or off 101 in Ukiah and those just passing through.

He noted that when 101 was built through Ukiah in the 1960s the standards for on and offramps were different than today, so they were built close together. But he said that has led to some conflicts as traffic slows for motorists trying to exit while other drivers are stomping on the gas to get onto 101, resulting in some white-knuckle merging.

Frisbie said the idea for the signs came up at a Caltrans meeting, noting the agency can afford the signs but doesn’t have the money to rebuild the off and onramps in Ukiah.

Signs won’t be put up for southbound traffic because the on and offramps there are not such a problem, he said.