Biden infrastructure plan provides $20M for Hwy 37
Funding part of flood control work on section
A major project to overhaul a flood-prone section of Highway 37 has received $20 million from the Biden administration.
The Federal Highway Administration funding is part of a $58.9 million allocation in grants supporting six projects in California designed to strengthen roads against the worsening effects of climate change. Nearly $830 million in grant awards will be disbursed nationwide.
The funding is being awarded to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the regional planning agency working on a $430 million plan to widen a 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 between Sears Point and Mare Island.
The $20 million allocation will specifically support
the installation of sheet pile walls, slope reinforcement and raising the grade at two segments. The resilience improvements are scheduled to begin in 2026.
“This $20 million is an important step forward, but it does not close the funding,” said John Goodwin, a
spokesperson for MTC.
MTC has secured about $250 million toward the project, including the latest $20 million award.
The grant comes months after MTC received a $50 million grant to support tidal marsh restoration and the replacement of the floodprone
Tolay Creek bridge. The marshland enhancements are the first phase of the larger project.
“This really illustrates one of the difficulties of not just Highway 37, not just the Bay Area, but the whole country to fund a project,” Goodwin said. “It takes so many different sources of revenue, and that means a lot of time, making it chronically difficult to do big infrastructure projects.”
Highway 37, the 21-mile corridor connecting Marin County and Vallejo, is used by 40,000 commuters daily and has become a centerpiece in the local and national debate on how to adapt to climate change.
The highway experiences frequent flooding that has forced closures spanning several days. Caltrans forecast that sea level rise threatens to regularly inun