A metering light -- for now turned away from traffic at right side of road -- at the southbound Highway 101 onramp at River Road. Road Warrior photo

Traffic on Highway 101 must be getting pretty bad because metering lights are in our future.

Caltrans has been installing metering lights — basically stop-and-go lights that regulate the flow of traffic onto freeways — in Rohnert Park and along the newly widened stretch of 101 from Santa Rosa to Windsor.

Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus said the department will study traffic patterns on the upgraded stretch sometime early next year and then meet with local transportation officials to decide how to implement the metering lights, including when to use them and how to regulate traffic flow on 101.

“The whole idea if to keep traffic flowing and be the most efficient” in doing so, he said.

Metering lights are used during heavy commute hours elsewhere in the Bay Area on freeway onramps, allowing one or two cars at a time to get onto the highway.

For now, the metering lights already installed are turned away from traffic, waiting to be switched on.