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Caltrans Completes Project to Ease Traffic Congestion on U.S. Highway 101

Recycled tires also used to repave highway

November 2, 2010
Today, Caltrans and the Sonoma County Transportation Authority announced the completion of a $120 million project that will provide traffic congestion relief for commuters on U.S. Highway 101 between Windsor and Santa Rosa. The project received $61 million from Proposition 1B, the $19.9 billion transportation bond championed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and approved by voters in 2006. Sonoma County Measure M funds contributed $9 million, and the remaining funding came from other assorted transportation accounts. 

"Proposition 1B is paying for vital transportation projects all over California," said Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. "Investing in our infrastructure is strengthening our economy and creating jobs when we need them most."

Two new carpool lanes (one in each direction) were built on an eight-mile stretch of U.S. Highway 101 between Windsor River Road and Steele Lane. Up to 105,000 motorists travel this section of the highway daily. The new lanes are part of a continuous 55-mile carpool lane network that when completed will stretch from the Golden Gate Bridge to Windsor.

"The new carpool lanes create an incentive for commuters to carpool and use transit, which will help reduce traffic congestion, gasoline consumption, and improve the air quality in Sonoma County," said Caltrans Director Cindy McKim.

In addition, crews repaved both sides of the highway between Santa Rosa and Windsor using recycled tires (rubberized asphalt), keeping those tires out of California landfills. The project also features new auxiliary lanes, which will provide an easier and safer means to enter and exit the highway, new ramp metering lights, and new high-tech traffic monitoring equipment.   

Since its passage, Caltrans and the California Transportation Commission have allocated nearly $6 billion in Proposition 1B funding to more than 1,000 projects statewide.