Highway 37 to close on April weekends for repairs ahead of major improvements

Long before the large-scale upcoming projects designed to reduce flooding and notorious delays, California State Route 37 is set to close on the weekends starting in April for paving improvements between Sears Point south of Sonoma and Mare Island in Vallejo.

The weekends of April 12‒14 and April 19‒21, Caltrans will shut down the westbound lane of Highway 37 between 9 p.m. Friday and 5 a.m. Monday. The eastbound lane will close on April 26‒28 and May 3‒5 during that time.

The critical 21-mile cross-bay thoroughfare that links Marin, Sonoma, Napa and Solano counties may also close in that two-mile section on May 10‒12 and May 17‒19. These weekends are considered “backup dates,” Caltrans noted.

“We consider these lane closures a shutdown,” Caltrans district spokesman Bart Ney said. “If we don’t keep paving, we’ll lose (the highway).”

A lot of work is planned down the road. There’s the $430 million short-term widening improvement for the Sonoma-to-Solano section and the over $3 billion long-range plan to ultimately lift the highway. These proposals are designed to help alleviate traffic congestion and to combat sea level rise. Major storms and King tides already contribute to flooding on the roadway.

The looming closures have added concern and criticism to the highway flow.

“I think this is going to be detrimental and will hurt the North Bay,” said Mark Walter, a San Anselmo resident who travels to Mare Island for his job as director of studio development at Cinelease, a movie equipment provider.

Walter, who also doubles as the Film Mare Island general manager and Visit Vallejo board member, added he’s surprised transportation managers haven’t established a ferry route between Larkspur in Marin County and Mare Island. Currently, the ferries travel to and from San Francisco from those Marin and Solano terminals.

He wondered how major business attractions such as Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo will fare if a major Bay Area highway closes on the weekends. The amusement park operates weekends only until Memorial Day weekend. Requests for comment were unanswered by the park.

“They should be thinking of alternatives,” Walter said.

Alternatives seem to be the operative word for the state agency trying to complete routine repairs and start the interim improvements before the bay rises at least three feet by 2130, according to a Stanford University study released four years ago.

The long-term goal involves elevating the road by 30 feet, a roughly-proposed endeavor estimated to cost up to $4 billion.

Caltrans plans to start work on the far west end of the corridor for the Marin (County) flood reduction project on a two-mile stretch at Novato Creek. The design is expected to finish in 2026, with building anticipated to start the following year. The project is due to be completed by 2040.

As for the Solano County side of the highway, transportation officials are exploring a $7 toll to help offset a $430 million price tag on a 10-mile section of the widening project.

The concept was met with frustration from Vallejo residents seeking a more equitable way to pay for massive improvements. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Bay Area’s nine-county transportation management agency, has worked to secure over $80 million for the job.

The road elevation component received $155 million last summer from the $1.2 trillion U.S. infrastructure law of 2021, leading U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, to push for the main goal in order to beat climate change impacts.

Huffman said Feb. 16 that he’s concerned that wasting time and money on short-term fixes like widening the road on the Solano County end will hinder the end-all goal.

“I understand things are going to happen in the near term, but we’re never going to have a better time to work through the long-term solution,” Huffman said, labeling the Solano County road widening “a dumb thing” straight out of a 1980s playbook.

The Marin County congressman, who supports the flood reduction work in Novato, would rather see Caltrans focus on elevating the road. The widening project also comes with thorny environmental issues because of the neighboring wetlands and because it serves as part of the Pacific Flyway used by migratory birds.

Susan Wood covers law, cannabis, production, tech, energy, transportation, agriculture as well as banking and finance. She can be reached at 530-545-8662 or susan.wood@busjrnl.com