Published Thursday, March 1, 2001, in the Contra Costa Times
Gridlock relief due along Sunol Grade
By Bonita Brewer
Times Staff Writer
SUNOL -- Relief for the congestion nightmare of thousands of morning
Sunol Grade commuters is coming, but the drive could worsen during
the year it will take to build a new southbound car pool lane.
The $25 million project, which received the final go-ahead Wednesday
from the Bay Area's Metropolitan Transportation Commission, will
begin this spring. It will add the 14-mile-long car pool lane to
Interstate 680 south between Highway 84 in Sunol and Route 237 in
Milpitas.
Caltrans officials said southbound commuters will have to bear some
additional traffic slowdowns during construction. But they vow no
lanes will be closed during the morning commute and that, ultimately,
the extra freeway capacity will make life easier not only for car
poolers, but also for other commuters, too.
"Adding a lane helps everyone," said Caltrans project manager Emily
Landin-Lowe.
A horrid commuter crawl that now takes 45 minutes or longer is
expected to be reduced initially to 12 minutes in the car pool lane
and to between 23 and 36 minutes in the three non-car pool lanes, she
said.
However, "as the years go by, we're expecting more and more vehicles
in that corridor and this is only one part of the solution," Landin-
Lowe noted. "We'll have to look at other forms of transit."
At South Mission Boulevard in Fremont, I-680 carries 6,500 cars an
hour southbound during the morning commute, giving it the distinction
of being one of the Bay Area's worst commutes.
Alameda County Supervisor Scott Haggerty, who sits on the MTC,
credited collaborative lobbying efforts of public officials and the
private sector for quickly obtaining state and federal funds for the
car pool lane.
"This (Sunol Grade gridlock) really blindsided people," Haggerty
said. "It's not a project that was even on the radar screen seven or
eight years ago. But the explosive growth in the Central Valley and
the explosive job growth in Santa Clara County created the need to
move this quickly."
The new lane will be available for express bus service, which
Haggerty called an integral part of reducing congestion in the Bay
Area. With expansion plans for ACE (Altamont Commuter Express) and
BART, I think we'll be in good shape."
"We're delighted to see construction begin," said Laura Stuchinsky of
the Silicon Valley Manufacturing Group, a business-backed
organization pushing for more ways to get commuters from Contra
Costa, Alameda and San Joaquin counties to South Bay jobs. She said
next week's launch of a third ACE train also will help.
Meanwhile, plans for adding a car pool lane to northbound I-680 along
the same stretch are moving along. Most of the $120 million needed to
pay for it has been secured from state and federal sources.
Environmental studies are expected to take about 21/2 years to
complete.
Ultimately, car pool lanes in both directions could double as toll
lanes for non-car poolers, pending a study by Alameda County's
Congestion Management Agency.
The southbound car pool lane will be added using existing surplus
right-of-way.
The project is part of a $60 million southbound I-680 improvement
program. A new merging lane between Auto Mall Parkway and Mission
Boulevard in south Fremont will open later this month.
Plans also call for widening bridges, installing additional
soundwalls and merging lanes, and installing metering lights on all
southbound on-ramps to the freeway between Stoneridge Drive in
Pleasanton and Jacklin Road in Milpitas.
Bonita Brewer covers Tri-Valley growth and transportation. Reach her
at 925-847-2120 or bbrewer@cctimes.com.
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