New Express Lanes under construction

Construction between Whipple Avenue and Interstate 380, which includes the lane widening, will begin January 2020 and extend through June of 2022. By October of that year, the tolling system will be in place.

Once the project is complete, there will be continuous express lanes along the 22-mile stretch of Highway 101 between Interstate 380 and the Santa Clara County line. There will be intermittent toll readers and signs along the corridor informing motorists of the current toll price and express lane rules. 

The $514 million Express Lanes project formerly known as Managed Lanes seeks to relieve traffic congestion on Highway 101 by adding a lane in each direction between Interstate 380 and Whipple Avenue in Redwood City and then converting the far left lane in both directions to an express lane. 

Express lanes promise speeds of at least 45 mph at all times by allowing carpools of three people or more and buses to travel for free while solo drivers would have to pay an electronic toll via FasTrak that fluctuates based on traffic volumes. Existing carpool lanes on Highway 101 between Whipple Avenue and the Santa Clara County line will also be converted to express lanes as part of the project. 

Tolling, auxiliary lane replacement

The tolling system will be in place between 5 a.m. and 8 p.m. and while tolls will vary depending on traffic volumes, users should expect to pay an average of about $1 per mile, officials has said in the past. The tolling system will monitor traffic speeds in all lanes and if overall speeds decline then the express lane price increases and when speeds improve the price decreases.

The San Mateo County stretch of Highway 101 currently features 19 auxiliary lanes that will be connected to one another and converted into through lanes. The auxiliary lanes will then be replaced on the widened portion of the highway. 

While only the express lanes promise speeds of at least 45 mph, officials are confident that travel times will improve in all lanes during commute hours in part because many solo drivers are expected to commute via express buses instead. SamTrans will roll out six express routes in phases over the next two years, the first of which will travel between San Francisco and Foster City starting August 19. 

“We’re pulling people out of the general purpose lanes and putting them in carpools and buses which reduces the demand for the general purpose lanes and that’s how we reduce and minimize the degradation of the general purpose lane congestion,” said Leo Scott, a co-project manager and president of Gray-Bowen-Scott. “We’ll improve travel time for all vehicles — it happens to be better improvement in the express lane because we can guarantee a travel time there — but by reducing the congestion in the general purpose lines we’re also reducing their travel time. As a result of all that, we’re moving more people in the same space.” 

JPA approval coming

The Express Lanes JPA, which is comprised of elected officials from across San Mateo County, must be approved by the California Transportation Commission to oversee the express lanes and determine policies such as toll rates and toll discounts for low-income drivers or zero emission vehicles.

Any agency in California that operates a toll needs approval by the CTC, which is a state agency comprised of 11 voting members, nine of which are appointed by the governor.

The CTC held a public hearing July 25 in Redwood City to gather input on the project as part of the approval process. On Aug. 14, the CTC will decide if the JPA is the official manager of the express lanes.

The JPA is comprised of six San Mateo County elected officials: three from the City/County Association of Governments and three from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority. The members include Chair Alicia Aguirre, Vice Chair Don Horsley and board members Emily Beach, Maureen Freschet, Doug Kim and Diane Papan.

C/CAG is a joint powers authority comprised of board members representing each city and the county that works on quality of life issues such as air quality and transportation, among others, and the TA oversees the county’s sales tax revenue earmarked for transportation. 

San Mateo resident Diana Pettit, who spoke during the July 25 public hearing, said existing express buses are underutilized and suggested the State Route 92 and Highway 101 interchange is the primary source of traffic congestion. 

“The VTA bus that goes through Hillsdale [Boulevard] and Foster City, it’s not full to pick up people to go to Oakland or vice versa. The SamTrans KX, which runs along El Camino and then gets on 101 going north to San Francisco including the airport is not full,” she said. “92/101 has got to be answered. We can’t breathe. All of the congestion from Whipple up to Ralston is the backlog and Ralston all the way up to the airport.”

Scott said there would be over 100,000 hours of delays a year on Highway 101 without the Express Lanes project and with it, total hours of delay each year are expected to drop by about 20,000 to just over 80,000. The project also increases person throughput from 600,000 people without the project to just under 800,000 people with it.

Ultimately, the express lanes on Highway 101 will be part of a network of 600 miles of express lanes throughout the Bay Area.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 102