Metering lights all day? One of the region’s worst bottlenecks has a patchwork fix

Drivers on Highway 65 in south Placer County know it and dread it: the perpetual wall of stalled traffic they hit in the final miles approaching Interstate 80.

Caltrans and Placer are working on a modest $50 million initial lane expansion, and hope someday to come up with $400 million to redo the outdated interchange.

Meantime, traffic just keeps getting worse. As a stopgap, Caltrans will try a first in the region: Staring Monday, April 8, the state will turn the metering lights on all day at several southbound ramps, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays, and 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends.

The on-ramps are at Pleasant Grove Boulevard, Blue Oaks Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard.

Caltrans spokeswoman Deanna Shoopman said Caltrans traffic counts are unusual in that area.

Unlike other freeways, which are congested typically during morning and evening commutes, traffic on Highway 65 near the interchange with Interstate 80 comes to a stop or near stop anytime on any day of the week. The highway not only serves growing areas of Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln, it is the entry as well to the Galleria shopping center and Thunder Valley Casino.

“It’s just intense all the time,” Shoopman said. “It doesn’t matter if it is commute hour, or shopping hours, or weekends.”

The metering lights allow traffic to enter the freeway in a controlled fashion, allowing a smoother merge, Shoopman said.

Long-term, officials hope slowly to modernize the interchange, at a cost of $400 million, as money becomes available.

Current work involves adding a lane northbound on Highway 65 just north of the interchange. That project will be finished next year.

Local officials say they will need to find a new funding source in order to complete the project, which involves widening Highway 65 to Lincoln.

“Traffic will continue to be a problem in the area until we make meaningful investment in our transportation infrastructure,” Roseville Mayor John Allard said in a press statement this week. “To fully fund this project we will need to find a local funding source to compete for state and federal funding.”

This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 10:03 AM.