Aerial view of northbound Highway 101 through Novato. [Shutterstock]
The carpool lane scenario in the North Bay is about to get way better, or way worse—depending on whether you drive solo during commute hours.
Caltrans recently approved changes to Marin and Sonoma counties’ HOV time limits, a move necessary to standardize the counties’ lane hours once work completes on the years-long highway widening project along the 101 corridor from Novato to Petaluma, aka “the narrows.” The 52-mile stretch from the Mill Valley to Windsor will conform to the same carpool lane hours used by the seven Bay Area bridges: 5 to 10 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. on weekdays in both directions.
The new times are a notable increase in lane restrictions—carpool enforcement jumps by three hours per morning in Marin and four hours per morning in Sonoma County. The afternoon restrictions increase by 90 minutes in Marin and 30 minutes in Sonoma.
While the Transportation Authority of Marin approved the changes, Marin traffic officials raised concerns about the potential effect the new hours will have on traffic, predicting additional delays to general-purpose lane users, as well as transit services which use those lanes.
The revised carpool lane hours will go into effect once construction is completed on “the narrows” sometime this summer.
