GROUNDBREAKING FOR I-80 EXPRESS LANE PROJECT
Lanes from Fairfield to Vacaville expected to open in spring 2025
As anyone who has driven along Interstate 80 in Solano County between 4 and 5 p.m. can attest, traffic can move pretty slowly during the ironically named “rush hour.”
This is something the California Department of Transportation hopes to solve through additional express lanes along the highway from Fairfield to Vacaville to keep traffic moving.
A groundbreaking ceremony was held Monday at the historic Peña Adobe Park, where the sounds of moving traffic are quite common.
The project aims to add two 18-mile express lanes, both eastbound and westbound, stretching from Red Top Road in Fairfield to Leisure Town Road in Vacaville. This includes eight miles of existing carpool lanes between Red Top and Airbase Parkway, which will be converted into express lanes.
The total cost for the project is $243 million — including $63.47 million from federal funds, $37 million from local funds and $19.16 million in regional improvement program funds.
Pedro Quintana, Caltrans' public information officer for District 4 which includes Solano, said the majority of funds — $123.4 million — would come from Senate Bill 1, signed into law to allocate $54 million toward roads, freeways and bridges throughout the state.
“The whole sense of this project is to alleviate the logjam that we're seeing in Solano County,” he said. “Solano County has seen a growth in the area, but we've noticed when it's 5 o'clock, 4 o'clock, (traffic) starts to pick up. A lot of that traffic starts to slow down from 55 miles per hour all the way down to
30 miles per hour.”
In addition to easing commuter traffic, Quintana said the project would allow emergency medical services vehicles to be able to more quickly reach their destinations during emergencies.
Robert McConnell, chair of the Solano Transportation Authority board and mayor of Vallejo, said it was a challenging project to fund and deliver, but community support has allowed it to happen.
“It would not have been possible without our many, many partner agencies and support of the private sector and the many community-based organizations in and around our beloved Solano County,” he said.
State Sen. Bill Dodd, DNapa, said it was one of many Caltrans projects in the county, including the interchange at I-80/680 and Highway 12, the Six Bridges project in Vallejo and the remodel of I-80 westbound truck scales near Fairfield.
“Together, these projects
will greatly improve the ability for business to transport their goods from the Port of Oakland, Sacramento and the rest of Northern California and throughout the western states,” he said.
Dodd highlighted the importance of I-80 as a transportation corridor, emphasizing that it had been designated by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission as a “lifeline route” carrying $244 billion worth of goods each year.
“By improving the efficiency of goods movement throughout the corridor, the economic benefit for this is $9.42 million for Solano County and $4.47 million to the rest of California,” he said.
Assemblywoman Lori Wilson, D-Suisun City, said the project would ease congestion for all, particularly travel for students and essential workers. She added it would create faster routes for local and regional transit systems, which in turn she said would reduce the amount of vehicles on the highway.
Additionally, she said electric vehicles would be eligible to use the lanes, as her office has issued a $1 million request to STA to ensure charging infrastructure in the county.
“We can improve the air quality and encourage more people to take advantage of the outdoor recreational activity options that we have here,” she said.
Caltrans acting Director Steve Keck said Solano's population was estimated to grow by 25% by 2040, and the number of vehicles on I-80 could increase by 35%.
The new lanes, he said, would allow vehicles with three or more travelers, as well as vans and buses, to freely travel. Other motorists would need to pay a toll that is correlated to the amount of traffic in the express lanes.
“That will allow us to be able to transport more people through this corridor with fewer vehicles,” he said.
Fairfield Mayor Harry Price said the lanes would make a difference to those traveling to and from Travis Air Force Base.
“This facility now is gonna make it easier for those 26,000 people who work at Travis,” he said. “Some of them active duty, others are reservists and lots of civilians.”
Vacaville Mayor Ron Rowlett, also president of Carpenters Local 180 of the Northern California Carpenters Regional Council, focused on the jobs the project and other Caltrans projects would bring.
“It's going to estimate $740 million construction job spending,” he said. “That translates to 5,700 jobs, $35 million in state and local tax revenue and $1 billion in economic impact to the local and statewide economy. When we free these lanes up, what it does is it saves everyone time, and when you save time, you do increase more jobs.”
The express lanes are anticipated to be completed in the spring of 2025.