The Sacramento area’s first freeway toll lane is likely coming to this major bottleneck
Interstate 80 over the Yolo Causeway is the only direct entrance from the Bay Area to the capital region. For years, it’s become increasingly congested – a bottleneck that delays and aggravates commuters, commercial truckers and recreational travelers alike.
“It paralyzes the region,” Yolo County Supervisor Don Saylor said. “Sacramento is the capital of the largest state in the country, and approaching it on I-80 is gridlocked.”
That appears about to change.
Sacramento officials say they have won a major federal grant to widen a 17-mile stretch of I-80 and Highway 50 through Yolo County by adding a “managed” lane in each direction. Some drivers may pay a toll to use the lane during certain hours.
Sacramento-area U.S. Rep. John Garamendi announced Wednesday morning the federal Department of Transportation has agreed to grant the region $86 million toward planning, designing and building the lanes, which would start near the Yolo/Solano county line and run east to the Highway 50 bridge over the Sacramento River between West Sacramento and downtown Sacramento.
“This project will greatly improve traffic flow across the Yolo Bypass,” Garamendi said, as well as “reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and improve agricultural and manufactured goods movement to the Port of Oakland, Port of West Sacramento, the San Francisco Bay Area, and the greater Sacramento region.”
The project is a partnership between the Yolo County Transportation District, Caltrans, and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.
The project, which will take three years to complete, includes a new bikeway for cyclists that might be set at a distance away from the freeway depending on costs and environmental issues.
First toll lane in Sacramento region
A so-called “managed lane” could take many forms in the years ahead, depending on regional needs, officials said. At times, it could be a bus lane and carpool lane. It could also be a free-flow lane for all traffic.
But local leaders say it also will be designed as the Sacramento region’s first “toll” lane during the most congested hours. The usage fee for the lane likely would apply only to single-occupant cars who choose to use the lane during the most congested hours. Buses and carpools would use the lanes for free at any time of the day.
“If you choose to use the managed lane during peak hours, there will be pricing involved,” Saylor said.
Caltrans officials, for their part, said the toll-lane concept will need to be vetted first by the public later this year as part of an project environmental review. “It looks good in our preliminary assessment, but we have to go through the public first,” Caltrans’ Sacramento-area head Amarjeet Benipal said.
The state is proposing using the new lanes as pay-for-use lanes from about 6 a.m. or 7 a.m. until about 8 p.m. daily, including weekends. At all times, the adjacent lanes will be free. Benipal said Caltrans is also talking about including a toll or pay lane on I-80 where it branches northward in West Sacramento over the Sacramento River as far as West El Camino Avenue.
Lucas Frerichs, vice mayor of Davis, said the toll aspect of the lanes are becoming part of the modern tool kit for transportation management, giving some drivers that option, if they want to choose it.
“We have been a little late to the game in the Sacramento region for this,” he said. “I assume over time there would be more.”
The Yolo section of the freeway has become notorious for its slow-downs and accordion-style traffic in recent years, mainly because the freeway narrows to three lanes along several sections in Yolo. While the causeway-area congestion affects weekday commuters, some of the worst slowdowns occur when Bay Area and Sacramento residents alike cram onto the freeway for weekend getaways.
The $86 million does not cover the entire cost of the project, which is estimated to be $140 million.
Frerichs said the federal money should lead to some state and local funding. “We have to figure out the remaining funding. We’ll figure it out. It could be regional transportation funds, or state dollars.”
California has limited experience with toll lanes on freeways, which by definition do not charge fees, but is slowly increasing usage of them. The state has toll lanes in the Bay Area on several sections of freeways: I-880, I-680, I-580 and Highway 237. Drivers pay via Fastrak during weekday morning commutes. Other lanes are free for drivers who do not want to use the toll lane.
The price can change every three minutes depending on how heavy traffic is, Bay Area transportation officials said.
If traffic is heavy, the price goes up, prompting more people to get out of the lane and keeping it flowing faster. The price is displayed on changeable overhead display boards. Drivers with Fastrak accounts use a transponder device in their car to wirelessly signal sensors on the freeway when they are in the lane, similar to the transponders in use in Fastrak lanes at Bay Area bridge toll plazas.
Prices average $5 to $6 per commuter during peak hours on the I-680 corridor in Contra Costa County, and under $2 during the non-peak midday hours.
The toll lanes are typically in operation weekdays from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. During other hours, they are available to all drivers. Those lanes are also used for free at any time by carpools, van pools, motorcycles, buses and certain clean-air vehicles.
This story was originally published June 30, 2021 at 11:40 AM.