More Interstate 680 widening for carpool and express lanes on tap

QLast week an arborist company removed all the landscaping (trees, bushes, etc.) from the east side of South Main next to Interstate 680 in Walnut Creek, almost to Rudgear Road.

Are they getting ready to widen the freeway here?

It is at the point where the carpool lane begins, and traffic always backs up here because of all the merging.

This is a difficult place for me because it is my exit home. Driving south on I-680 I have to cross all the Highway 24 and Olympic Boulevard merging lanes in less than a mile to get off. Many merging cars will pass me on the right or hog those lanes despite it being an exit-only lane and my signaling. Then they merge left at the last minute because of the congestion. Patience does help. — Fran McNamee, Concord

AYes. This is prepping work to extend the carpool and express lanes on I-680 between Walnut

ACreek and the Benicia Bridge, with construction starting in the southbound direction. Later they will do the northbound side.

QWe heard that there will be a BART fare increase Jan. 1 and that BART will also add a 50cent surcharge on existing paper tickets that we have already purchased. My wife and I have enjoyed and supported BART for the last 40 years but have a problem with this surcharge.

We have several hundred dollars in paper tickets and we each have senior Clipper Cards. How can we transfer our paper tickets to our Clipper Cards before Jan. 1? — Jim Spinello, Alamo You can’t, but all hope is not lost. Riders can get refunds for paper tickets by mailing them in, taking them to a station agent or clicking onto bart. gov/tickets/sales/refunds.

This surcharge is to encourage more riders to move to Clipper. Paper tickets jam fare gates when they get worn and tattered which increases maintenance costs.

QWe were sad to read that toll booth worker Si Si Han was struck and killed by an alleged drunk driver on Dec. 2 when a box truck crashed into her booth where she was working on the Bay Bridge. In our 35 years here, we hadn’t heard of one toll collector losing their life. Was she the first? — Tony and Barbara Sandoval, Pleasant Hill

ANo. In 2009 Deborah Ross, a toll collector on the Richmond bridge, was shot to death by a former boyfriend as she sat in her booth.

Since 1921, 188 Caltrans workers have died on the job, mostly along freeways by speeders and drunks.