Drivers in the North Bay waited 30 years for a new lane to alleviate congestion on Highway 101. But now some wish the project had never finished.
That’s because it came with new carpool hours, meant to align Marin and Sonoma counties with the rest of the Bay Area. Regional transportation officials have tried to standardize the window for high-occupancy vehicles — with at least one passenger in addition to the driver — to two weekday rush hour periods. The morning period runs from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m., while the evening starts at 3 p.m. and ends at 7 p.m.
Officials at Caltrans imposed this split-schedule after adding diamond lanes to fix a notorious bottleneck between Petaluma and Novato, while also filling a “gap” in the 52-mile carpool lane network on 101, from Windsor to Mill Valley. Notably, the new hours apply to all 52 miles, which means one infrastructure project has vastly expanded the carpool window in both counties…