CA 37 - The Two Lane Mess

[Voyager]

Now that there's a jersey barrier in the center of the freeway, the accidents have gone down almost entirely on the highway. The problem is that none of the passing lanes are left now. I have to take this highway many times a month sometimes and I get really irritated with the traffic that I have to go with, especially with the trucks and slower people. Are the plans to add another half to the highway and make it into a marsh causeway ever going to happen, or did the enviromentalists win this one?

[John]

Environmentalist definitely won. Its still 2 lanes after 121 all the way to Vallejo.

[Alex]

Andy showed me this in 2005. I was not impressed with that configuration at all!

[ComputerGuy]

CA 37 isn't bad compared to I-5 in Marysville...5 fatal accidents per month sometimes...

[Voyager]

Do you mean CA-99?

[ComputerGuy]

I-5 in Marysville, WA

[Voyager]

Ah, well let's try to stay on topic here. Thanks.

They recently upgraded the freeway all the way from 80 to the Mare Island Bridge, but I guess that's all that they're going to be able to widen?

[John]

Yeah that was long overdue, but the land they acquired was just suburban sprawl, nothing the environmentalists could protest. After Mare Island there are tons of marshes on either side.

[Voyager]

Yeah, I still just don't understand why a two lane causeway couldn't be constructed. It would definitely not impact the enviroment as much as anything else they could do.

[John]

Don't fault Caltrans, they had to do an EIS and they did have to listen to the community. They do good work, even if it is 20 years behind schedule sometimes.

[wishfulanthony]

Yup, I have noticed that -- sometimes, that portion of highway has to be closed between Sears Point and Mare Island/Vallejo Napa River Bridge to clear an accident that covers any one of the two lanes of the highway, and it frustrates drivers that instead of taking that shortcut, they need to go around either via Santa Rosa and Sonoma (CA-12 to CA-121 and CA-29) or via San Rafael and Richmond (I-580 to Richmond Pkwy to I-80) just to go around the mess at CA-37. I even told in the "candidates for freeway" article about CA-37 because it is a vital highway connecting the North Bay counties of Marin, Sonoma, and Solano (without the toll).

I wish there could be a serious study on expanding the 37, or better yet, establish a transit corridor (either by bus or rail) along the 37 to ensure continuous links between San Francisco and Vallejo or Sonoma via Marin County.