Changes coming to ease traffic on Highway 237
QIf I need to run an errand in the morning by 9 or 10 a.m., it boggles the mind how bad Highway 237 can be. You’ve been quiet about the traffic on 237. Is there anything on the horizon to help? — Bruce Whittaker, Frank Torre and others
AThere sure is. Caltrans plans to extend the metering lights westbound during the morning commute from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. Not sure when this will happen but it’s coming maybe by the end of the year. Only Interstate 80 metering lights operate longer in the day in the Bay Area.
But there’s more. Next year work to extend the carpool/express lanes on Highway 237 to Highway 101 and Interstate 880 could begin.
And soon the express lanes on I-880 will run from Oakland to Highway 237 in Milpitas.
QThe traffic signal at Highway 237 and McCarthy Boulevard is causing backups in the morning.
The initial green interval isn’t long enough to get traffic moving and extend the green for southbound traffic. The green terminates after 10-15 seconds. The problem is aggravated when westbound left turn traffic blocks the intersection. — Martin Boyle
ACheck back after the metering light hours are extended. They may help.
QAre there plans to add a carpool lane on Interstate 580 through the maze in Oakland? — George Ferris
ANo. Caltrans said there has not been enough congestion along that segment of I-580 to warrant a carpool lane.
Since the available right of way is essentially nonexistent where it’s needed the most, widening the road to add a carpool lane would likely mean replacing several substantial and costly structures. In Caltrans’ opinion, the price tag would be too expensive and the time savings too meager.
In addition, Caltrans believes converting a lane for solo drivers into a carpool lane would result in longer backups and delays because all lanes are needed to get through there and ease the weaving chaos, particularly around Highway 13.
QI know that a driver needs to have a transponder to cross the Golden Gate Bridge since there are no longer toll takers. I heard that this experiment had been a success and that the tolltaker-less bridge program is going to be expanding to other Bay Area bridges. Is this true, and, if so, when will this be happening?
My husband and I share a transponder between our two cars, but that will become more cumbersome if every bridge requires that transponders be used. — Joan King-Angell, Berkeley
ANo timetable yet. New state requirements for toll system interoperability takes effect in 2018, so expansion of all-electronic tolling on the state-owned bridges is unlikely to begin until 2019 at the earliest.