Caltrans is closing the southbound Highway 101 offramp to Highway 37 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Friday to Tuesday to allow crews to cut down trees along 101.

The work, which goes from 8 p.m. to midnight, is the beginning of Caltrans’ project to widen 101 from Atherton Avenue to Highway 37. Caltrans also is closing the 101 offramp to South Novato Boulevard those nights as well.

For people living near that area, Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus said in a statement that the agency “realizes that tree removal is a noisy operation, which is why we decided to limit the hours of operation to four hours per night. We have taken other steps to mitigate the noise.”

An alternate southbound route to Highway 37, Haus said, is to take the Atherton/San Marin exit and go east on Atherton to Highway 37.