Many, many years and billions of dollars in the future, a 21-mile, four-lane causeway will skim above hundreds of acres of restored wetlands at the Bay’s northern edge, replacing traffic-clogged, often water-logged, State Route 37. This spring, despite last minute funding challenges that threatened to derail a key component, the first glimpses of that vision began coming into focus.
In April, Caltrans will complete the first construction project related to the ultimate alignment of the new SR 37, a diverging diamond interchange at the eastern end of the highway in Vallejo.
“It’s a safer, more efficient way to create an interchange where you have a highway that goes over roads in a community,” says Caltrans spokesman Bart Ney. “It’s going to accommodate more efficient access to State Route 37, relieving some of the chronic congestion in the area.” Eventually, the Solano County Transportation Authority will build a public transit hub nearby to facilitate trips along the 37 corridor.
As North Bay residents know all too well, traffic congestion is just one of the urgent problems Caltrans and other transportation agencies must address…