Novato Narrows Widening Project Takes Next Step

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msn-narrows-photo1-2

Sonoma County’s Highway 101 commute into Marin is about to look a little different.

Starting June 10, southbound drivers out of Petaluma will be diverted onto newly opened lanes beginning near San Antonio Creek and continuing to just before Atherton Avenue in Novato.

The new lanes are a sign of Caltrans’ progress on the Novato Narrows project—the state highway agency’s years-long effort to widen the bottlenecked stretch of Highway 101 that has been the scourge of cross-county commuters for years. The 6-mile portion of the highway drops from four to three to two lanes in both directions between Novato and Petaluma. The project—the $135 million final phase of the $762 million Highway 101-widening effort launched nearly a decade ago—will add a carpool lane in each direction, loosening up one of the worst commutes in the North Bay. The new lanes are 10 feet higher than the existing highway.

While southbound traffic is diverted onto the elevated lanes, road crews will begin working on upgrading the already existing southbound lanes. That work is expected to take about a year, transportation officials told the Marin Independent Journal this week. After the southbound portion is completed, Caltrans will begin a similar traffic-diversion process for work on the northbound lanes.

The new lanes in both directions are slated to open in late 2025.

Currently, work on the lanes is taking place nightly from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m. at which time drivers should expect lane closures and traffic slowdowns.

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