Yolo County I-80 HOT lanes

[Kniwt]

The Sacramento Bee reports:
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/back-seat-driver/article252451038.html

Interstate 80 over the Yolo Causeway is the only direct entrance from the Bay Area to the capital region. For years, it's become increasingly congested — a bottleneck that delays and aggravates commuters, commercial truckers and recreational travelers alike.

... Sacramento officials say they have won a major federal grant to widen a 17-mile stretch of I-80 and Highway 50 through Yolo County by adding a "managed"  lane in each direction. Some drivers may pay a toll to use the lane during certain hours.

Sacramento-area U.S. Rep. John Garamendi announced Wednesday morning the federal Department of Transportation has agreed to grant the region $86 million toward planning, designing and building the lanes, which would start near the Yolo/Solano county line and run east to the Highway 50 bridge over the Sacramento River between West Sacramento and downtown Sacramento.

... The state is proposing using the new lanes as pay-for-use lanes from about 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. until about 8 p.m. daily, including weekends. At all times, the adjacent lanes will be free. Benipal said Caltrans is also talking about including a toll or pay lane on I-80 where it branches northward in West Sacramento over the Sacramento River as far as West El Camino Avenue.

Grant award: https://grants.ost.dot.gov/public/ViewMessage.cfm?MsgID=3rddxeqad8

The Yolo County Transportation District will be awarded $85.9 million in grant funding to improve traffic flow in the I-80 corridor on the west side of the Sacramento-Yolo metro area. Project elements include: implementing approximately 17 miles of managed lanes from the Yolo/Solano County line through Yolo County to West El Camino Avenue on I-80 and to I-5 on US-50 in Sacramento County; the construction of new lanes on some segments and restriping to add lanes or using existing lanes for approximately 2.7 miles of the project; adding ITS elements along I-80 and US-50, including fiber optics, detection, changeable message signs, and ramp meters; improvements to the Yolo Causeway cycling and pedestrian facility through reduced curve radii and additional crosswalk, sidewalk lighting, and safety elements. The project will also include two auxiliary lanes and will add ramp meters at seven locations.

[cahwyguy]

The Sacramento Bee reports: [...]

Alas, the Sacramento Bee (and others in the corporate family) have gone to one of the most draconian paywalls, making it so I can't see the article. This is one reason why, increasingly, you are not seeing articles from the xxxxx Bee, or the BANG (Mercury News) or LANG (LA Daily News) families in my headline posts.

ETA: I did find this non-paywalled article: https://www.davisvanguard.org/2021/07/86-million-approved-to-upgrade-the-i-80-corridor-in-yolo-county/

Thanks for the link to the grant information. I'll keep my eyes open for more on this. If they are getting a grant, it can't be just the YCTD. There will have to be something in the SHOPP or STIP on this. CTC and Caltrans will ultimately be directing this, as it is on I-80, even if it is being covered by local funding. I just checked the SHOPP, and nothing is there (unless it was just amended in).

Daniel

[Concrete Bob]

Outside of Yolo and east Solano County, most of I -80 has eight general Purpose lanes (4+4), plus any additional HOV/HOT lanes between Sacramento and San Francisco.  Since the funds to build the additional toll lanes appears to come from general taxpayer dollars, it would seem reasonable that this project would have added one free, plus an additional HOV/HOT lane through the corridor.  It appears as though there is plenty of room in the freeway median to do so. 

In the event there is not additional room in the median, an additional lane could be easily added to the right lane, since the area is largely rural or exurban. 

Either way, additional capacity within the corridor is a godsend. Three general purpose lanes over the Yolo Causeway is not enough.  I am surprised Caltrans did not add a lane of additional capacity in each direction when they upgraded the causeway back in the early 1990s. 

[sprjus4]

The Sacramento Bee reports: [...]

Alas, the Sacramento Bee (and others in the corporate family) have gone to one of the most draconian paywalls, making it so I can't see the article. This is one reason why, increasingly, you are not seeing articles from the xxxxx Bee, or the BANG (Mercury News) or LANG (LA Daily News) families in my headline posts.

ETA: I did find this non-paywalled article: https://www.davisvanguard.org/2021/07/86-million-approved-to-upgrade-the-i-80-corridor-in-yolo-county/

Thanks for the link to the grant information. I'll keep my eyes open for more on this. If they are getting a grant, it can't be just the YCTD. There will have to be something in the SHOPP or STIP on this. CTC and Caltrans will ultimately be directing this, as it is on I-80, even if it is being covered by local funding. I just checked the SHOPP, and nothing is there (unless it was just amended in).

Daniel

Try disabling JavaScript. It usually works at bypassing paywalls because it prevents the block from loading.

[Occidental Tourist]

For some paywalls, you can switch to reader view before the blocking pop-up loads and the whole article will be displayed.

[cahwyguy]

Try disabling Flash. It usually works at bypassing paywalls because it prevents the block from loading.

That's so ... two years ago. Flash has been deprecated. No sites can use Flash anymore.

For some paywalls, you can switch to reader view before the blocking pop-up loads and the whole article will be displayed.

Some sites put up the text and then a popup -- for those, I can (select all)(copy) and then paste into emacs. The bee sites put up the paywall before they put up any text, which is what makes them really anoying. I generally try incognito mode and the copy/paste text before the news site hits my nasty list.

[sprjus4]

Try disabling Flash. It usually works at bypassing paywalls because it prevents the block from loading.

That's so ... two years ago. Flash has been deprecated. No sites can use Flash anymore.

Sorry, I meant JavaScript. It was 3am when I typed that post, so. Though I do remember when disabling Flash would work, but you are correct in the fact it usually doesn't anymore.

[cahwyguy]

Sorry, I meant JavaScript. It was 3am when I typed that post, so. Though I do remember when disabling Flash would work, but you are correct in the fact it usually doesn't anymore.

Disabling Javascript doesn't do it. However, I had forgotten to try incognito mode, which does work for the Bee. I still find the paywalls annoying, and it make me avoid sites (I already pay for the LA Times and NY Times, and that's enough).

[bing101]

The Sacramento Bee reports:
https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/back-seat-driver/article252451038.html

Interstate 80 over the Yolo Causeway is the only direct entrance from the Bay Area to the capital region. For years, it's become increasingly congested — a bottleneck that delays and aggravates commuters, commercial truckers and recreational travelers alike.

... Sacramento officials say they have won a major federal grant to widen a 17-mile stretch of I-80 and Highway 50 through Yolo County by adding a "managed"  lane in each direction. Some drivers may pay a toll to use the lane during certain hours.

Sacramento-area U.S. Rep. John Garamendi announced Wednesday morning the federal Department of Transportation has agreed to grant the region $86 million toward planning, designing and building the lanes, which would start near the Yolo/Solano county line and run east to the Highway 50 bridge over the Sacramento River between West Sacramento and downtown Sacramento.

... The state is proposing using the new lanes as pay-for-use lanes from about 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. until about 8 p.m. daily, including weekends. At all times, the adjacent lanes will be free. Benipal said Caltrans is also talking about including a toll or pay lane on I-80 where it branches northward in West Sacramento over the Sacramento River as far as West El Camino Avenue.

Grant award: https://grants.ost.dot.gov/public/ViewMessage.cfm?MsgID=3rddxeqad8

The Yolo County Transportation District will be awarded $85.9 million in grant funding to improve traffic flow in the I-80 corridor on the west side of the Sacramento-Yolo metro area. Project elements include: implementing approximately 17 miles of managed lanes from the Yolo/Solano County line through Yolo County to West El Camino Avenue on I-80 and to I-5 on US-50 in Sacramento County; the construction of new lanes on some segments and restriping to add lanes or using existing lanes for approximately 2.7 miles of the project; adding ITS elements along I-80 and US-50, including fiber optics, detection, changeable message signs, and ramp meters; improvements to the Yolo Causeway cycling and pedestrian facility through reduced curve radii and additional crosswalk, sidewalk lighting, and safety elements. The project will also include two auxiliary lanes and will add ramp meters at seven locations.

I agree with this move because in recent years because I knew Davis and Sacramento have been important as alternate employment centers as a way to cut costs in the Bay Area. Also Fairfield and Vacaville prior to the pandemic were dealing with Traffic jams from both directions of I-80 due to the area being the outer suburbs of two different census areas Sacramento and Bay Area.