Faced with mounting pressure from irate drivers, Bay Area transportation officials said Wednesday that they will reduce the carpool lane hours on Highway 101 in the North Bay.
Beginning in February, the lanes will be reserved for high-occupancy vehicles from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. during morning rush hour and 3 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. in the evenings. Policymakers from Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and their local partners settled on this schedule at an executive freeway management committee meeting last week, following a robust traffic analysis along the 52-mile corridor from Windsor to the Richardson Bay Bridge.
The new hours mark a retreat from the more expansive schedule that Caltrans and MTC implemented in September, after completing a 30-year modernization of the freeway. As part of that overhaul, crews opened a continuous carpool lane through Marin and Sonoma counties. They wanted to keep the carpool hours consistent, allowing traffic to flow efficiently while also avoiding confusion for motorists traveling long distances with one or more passengers…