Interstate 80 in Vallejo - why is it still only 6 lanes?

[thsftw]

While driving to Vacaville this weekend, I was stuck in traffic in lovely Vallejo. The funny thing is that between the Carquinez Bridge and Tennessee St, the freeway has just been redone and repaved - with still only 6 lanes. If I recall correctly this is now the only stretch of Interstate 80 between Midway Rd and SF that is constricted. But I don't understand why? There's definitely space to fit the same 8 lanes the rest of the freeway has, the new repaved lanes are even wider now.

[The Ghostbuster]

Maybe the locals oppose expanding Interstate 80 to more than three lanes in each direction. Freeway construction and freeway expansion plans have always been mired in controversy.

[bing101]

Carryover when I-80 was US-40 most likely. But I get what you mean I-80 in Vallejo is similar to how I-5 between I-710 to I-605 in the Los Angeles area was at 6 lanes prior to repaving and widening projects on that section. Yes Solano County has to respond to both Sacramento and Bay Area commuters at the same time.  We mentioned more in related threads here on how Vacaville and Fairfield has to widen I-80 and include express lanes to respond to Sacramento and Bay Area Traffic at the same time. Also we mentioned about a proposed city in Solano County that is currently in dispute with current and former landowners given the Flannery debates in the area.


https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=32318.0


https://www.aaroads.com/forum/index.php?topic=33699.0

[heynow415]

While driving to Vacaville this weekend, I was stuck in traffic in lovely Vallejo. The funny thing is that between the Carquinez Bridge and Tennessee St, the freeway has just been redone and repaved - with still only 6 lanes. If I recall correctly this is now the only stretch of Interstate 80 between Midway Rd and SF that is constricted. But I don't understand why? There's definitely space to fit the same 8 lanes the rest of the freeway has, the new repaved lanes are even wider now.

It actually is very constricted in the Vallejo segment, a legacy of its days as US 40.  Lots of way substandard hook ramps, the "squished" cloverleaf at I-780, and frontage roads up against the freeway that short of repurposing the shoulders for traffic lanes makes adding lanes infeasible without right of way acquisition to address the myriad deficiencies.  There have been incremental improvements here and there (like rebuilding the Sonoma Blvd/SR 29 separation) in anticipation of something being done in the future but widening the whole section will be a massive and expensive undertaking.

[bing101]

While driving to Vacaville this weekend, I was stuck in traffic in lovely Vallejo. The funny thing is that between the Carquinez Bridge and Tennessee St, the freeway has just been redone and repaved - with still only 6 lanes. If I recall correctly this is now the only stretch of Interstate 80 between Midway Rd and SF that is constricted. But I don't understand why? There's definitely space to fit the same 8 lanes the rest of the freeway has, the new repaved lanes are even wider now.

It actually is very constricted in the Vallejo segment, a legacy of its days as US 40.  Lots of way substandard hook ramps, the "squished" cloverleaf at I-780, and frontage roads up against the freeway that short of repurposing the shoulders for traffic lanes makes adding lanes infeasible without right of way acquisition to address the myriad deficiencies.  There have been incremental improvements here and there (like rebuilding the Sonoma Blvd/SR 29 separation) in anticipation of something being done in the future but widening the whole section will be a massive and expensive undertaking.

Yes some of this goes back to when US-40 was in Vallejo and it was where the studies on freeways reducing accidents were in the 1950's. I looked at how Vallejo had more car accidents on its arterials prior to US-40 Freeway construction in the area.

[Techknow]

Although you mentioned between SF, I-80 in SF itself when it begins until the Bay Bridge (so not including Treasure Island) is 6 lanes, excluding merge/aux lanes. Given that US-101 is 8 lanes up until the junction with I-80, I do feel like I-80 in SF has not been expanded for decades but instead has been constricted and contributes to daily traffic bottlenecks including in weekends.

[TheStranger]

Although you mentioned between SF, I-80 in SF itself when it begins until the Bay Bridge (so not including Treasure Island) is 6 lanes, excluding merge/aux lanes. Given that US-101 is 8 lanes up until the junction with I-80, I do feel like I-80 in SF has not been expanded for decades but instead has been constricted and contributes to daily traffic bottlenecks including in weekends.

The section of I-80 between 101 and the bridge (or more exactly, the legislative definition of I-280's north end/the former east end of 480) interestingly enough has not officially been in the Interstate system since 1968! 

It has always been signed as I-80 since around the early 1960s (originally as a concurrency with US 40/50) but when the Western Freeway part of I-80 (from the Fell Street/Central Freeway junction west to Golden Gate Park) was nixed during the freeway revolts, the chargeable mileage of 80 west of the bridge was taken out of the system, and then used for the Century Freeway/I-105 project in LA. 

All of the above has no real effect on the route's in-the-field signage or continuinty, but I mention it because this may be in part because that entire 2 mile stretch predates the Interstate system, and explains some of the older design tendencies (especially left exits westbound) that have not been improved on.  The segment from the bridge to 5th Street opened ca. 1936 as part of the Bay Bridge project, and the portion from 5th to the Central Freeway was opened ca. 1954-1955 - all of it originally signed as just US 40/50. 

I-80 (US 40/50) as the only automobile route to the East Bay was also not the original intention of local planners, as evidenced by the many Southern Crossing proposals to connect SF and Alameda from the late 1930s up until the mid 1970s.

[bing101]

While driving to Vacaville this weekend, I was stuck in traffic in lovely Vallejo. The funny thing is that between the Carquinez Bridge and Tennessee St, the freeway has just been redone and repaved - with still only 6 lanes. If I recall correctly this is now the only stretch of Interstate 80 between Midway Rd and SF that is constricted. But I don't understand why? There's definitely space to fit the same 8 lanes the rest of the freeway has, the new repaved lanes are even wider now.

It actually is very constricted in the Vallejo segment, a legacy of its days as US 40.  Lots of way substandard hook ramps, the "squished" cloverleaf at I-780, and frontage roads up against the freeway that short of repurposing the shoulders for traffic lanes makes adding lanes infeasible without right of way acquisition to address the myriad deficiencies.  There have been incremental improvements here and there (like rebuilding the Sonoma Blvd/SR 29 separation) in anticipation of something being done in the future but widening the whole section will be a massive and expensive undertaking.

I remember looking at old pictures of Fairfield and Vacaville when US-40 freeway was built the total lanes was 4 lanes. At that time Fairfield and Vacaville were farmland and they were at the time considered as the middle of nowhere at that point when it was US-40. Once that became I-80 the population became what it is today because it needs to respond to rush hour traffic for both Bay Area and Sacramento at the same time. Yes decades of widening of I-80 on that section happened because that area was then rural and didn't have the issues over the route displacing certain neighborhoods.

[jdbx]

While driving to Vacaville this weekend, I was stuck in traffic in lovely Vallejo. The funny thing is that between the Carquinez Bridge and Tennessee St, the freeway has just been redone and repaved - with still only 6 lanes. If I recall correctly this is now the only stretch of Interstate 80 between Midway Rd and SF that is constricted. But I don't understand why? There's definitely space to fit the same 8 lanes the rest of the freeway has, the new repaved lanes are even wider now.

It actually is very constricted in the Vallejo segment, a legacy of its days as US 40.  Lots of way substandard hook ramps, the "squished" cloverleaf at I-780, and frontage roads up against the freeway that short of repurposing the shoulders for traffic lanes makes adding lanes infeasible without right of way acquisition to address the myriad deficiencies.  There have been incremental improvements here and there (like rebuilding the Sonoma Blvd/SR 29 separation) in anticipation of something being done in the future but widening the whole section will be a massive and expensive undertaking.

I remember looking at old pictures of Fairfield and Vacaville when US-40 freeway was built the total lanes was 4 lanes. At that time Fairfield and Vacaville were farmland and they were at the time considered as the middle of nowhere at that point when it was US-40. Once that became I-80 the population became what it is today because it needs to respond to rush hour traffic for both Bay Area and Sacramento at the same time. Yes decades of widening of I-80 on that section happened because that area was then rural and didn't have the issues over the route displacing certain neighborhoods.

I think you hit the nail on the head.  When the freeway was built through Fairfield, it was built well to the west of the core of development, so there was plenty of open land for ROW.  Same with Vacaville, the freeway was built a few blocks south of downtown, still plenty of ROW.  Development then filled-in around the freeways afterward.  Vallejo was already fairly well built-up on both sides at the time the original 6 lane highway was built.