New, streamlined Highway 101 carpool lane hours take effect in North Bay

If commuters on Highway 101 in Sonoma and Marin counties are feeling a bit whipsawed these days, that’s understandable.

For the second time in six months, crews for California’s transportation department recently finished updating signs displaying a new set of carpool lane hours for that 52-mile corridor.

As of Monday, revised signs announced that the latest high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lane hours are 6 to 9 a.m. in the morning and 3 to 6:30 p.m. in the evening, in both counties, in both directions, Monday through Friday.

This latest iteration represents a retreat from the HOV lane hours unveiled by Caltrans – to widespread condemnation ­­– on Sept. 8.

On that day, the agency nearly doubled carpool lane hours on that stretch of Highway 101, extending them in the morning from 5 to 10 a.m., and in the evening from 3 to 7 p.m.

Up until then, HOV lane hours had been considerably less restrictive: 7 to 9 a.m. and 3 to 6 p.m. in both directions in Sonoma County.

Carpool lane hours in in Marin had been 6:30 to 8:30 a.m. southbound, and 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. going north.

The September switch blindsided motorists, many of whom suddenly faced much longer commutes.

Such was the subsequent outpouring of outrage that Caltrans, under pressure from irate commuters and their elected officials, announced in December that it was backtracking.

Based on a traffic analysis it completed in January, Caltrans switched the carpool lane hours — again — to their current status.

Matt O’Donnell, a spokesman for Caltrans, explained in an email Tuesday that “HOV lanes are intended to provide relief during the most congested times of day as well as short time blocks before and after. Our analysis showed that the hours that we had set were broader than the congestion period on US-101.”

The traffic analysis also showed that “the elimination of a chokepoint south of Petaluma” — the long-awaited opening of a third lane — had the effect of passing that congestion downstream, “to another chokepoint north of downtown San Rafael.”

By shrinking the carpool lane hour in the morning, Caltrans concluded, “we could reduce that southbound congestion by providing additional capacity for all traffic, while not negatively impacting carpooling or transit in the corridor.”

One citizen exerting intense pressure on the agency was Katie Clayton of Rohnert Park, who spearheaded a Change.org campaign to pressure Caltrans to roll back its onerous carpool lane hours – a petition signed by nearly 9,000 people.

Clayton, a hair stylist who lives in Rohnert Park and works in Novato, noticed immediately, once the new hours were announced in September, that traffic on the highway was backing up at times it never had before.

“Which is crazy,” she added. “The whole point was to ease traffic and it was doing the opposite. It made no sense at all.”

While that switch lengthened her commute, she said, “I really cared more about people that drive farther than I do.”

She conducted a Facebook poll, asking commuters how they liked the new hours. A typical reply, she said, was: “This totally sucks. I’m spending hours longer in my car.”

Responses to the poll, overwhelmingly negative, helped persuade her to launch the Change.org petition, which excoriated “this abrupt and unwelcome change” and its “disturbing impact on our community, especially for families, small businesses, and workers.”

Clayton expressed gratitude to Caltrans officials for “listening to the community feedback,” even as she shares the opinion, held by many commuters along the Highway 101 corridor, that the latest carpool lane hours remain overly onerous.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s better,” said Clayton.

“I don’t know if we’re ever going to get perfection from (Caltrans), or a full reversal. So we have to take what we can get.”

You can reach senior reporter Austin Murphy at austin.murphy@pressdemocrat.com. On X @Ausmurph88.