Back-Seat Driver: Trucks push the limits of I-5 rules

Squeezing onto northbound Interstate 5 weekday mornings in his Subaru, Capitol worker Robb Deignan embarks on an epic journey.

The quest: To get over two lanes, past the big rigs and the mass of merging commuters.

But when he reaches the supposedly placid waters of the cruising lane (just inside the fast lane) and glances in his rearview mirror, it's a sight from "Jaws."

"There is nothing but grille from these huge semis bearing down on me," Deignan laments.

What, he asks, are all these big trucks doing way out there?

He's aware that highway officials allow large trucks to drive in the two outer lanes briefly on Interstate 5 in downtown Sacramento.

That frees up space in the merge lane for commuters to get on and off downtown, where the hectic freeway is a giant pinball machine.

But some truckers have been sliding out into that additional lane around 43rd Avenue, earlier than they should, and staying there past the posted signs to merge right.

For commuters, especially on southbound I-5, it means dealing with an unnerving, multi-lane armada of tall trucks.

Truckers say that section of freeway is so jammed with cars cutting in and out that it's hard to get back into the right lane. Big trucks need a lot of open lane to get over.

State officials and local transportation planners acknowledge I-5 through downtown Sacramento has become a problem.

"Anyone who drives on it knows I-5 doesn't work well at peak hour," says Wayne Lewis, Caltrans' chief planner for the capital region.

Caltrans officials recently considered allowing trucks to move all the way out to the fast lane through downtown.

Then, they thought again and thought it was a bad idea.

I-5 always has been a mixing ground of two cultures. The busy truck route runs from Canada to Mexico, and connects via feeder highways to ports including Oakland, Seattle, Los Angeles, Long Beach, Stockton and Sacramento.

Truck traffic is getting heavier. Most trucks, however, are not merely passing through. They are delivering or picking up goods here.

At the same time, booming residential growth in Natomas to the north and Elk Grove to the south has made the freeway a congested commuter funnel.

Caltrans' Lewis said the agency is looking at squeezing another lane onto the freeway in downtown. It also plans to extend carpool lanes closer to downtown to encourage more doubling up.

But, there is neither money nor space for a larger freeway.

So, planners are pushing what they contend is a bigger regional approach to easing the growing pains that I-5 and other freeways suffer.

Mike McKeever, head of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the region's chief transportation planning agency, argues the best bet is to get more commuters – not trucks – off the freeway.

It will require city councils and county boards to do a much better job of promoting growth that allows more people to live close to work – more jobs in Elk Grove, more housing in downtown Sacramento, compact neighborhoods and more transit.

Commuter Robb Deignan, frankly, would rather see fewer trucks on the freeway. But, he gets it. He doesn't want to live his life on the freeway.

So now, he's riding his bike to work some days and taking surface streets.

About the writer:

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