Widen 101 and build Rainier extension for Petaluma traffic relief

The Sonoma County Transportation Authority recently refinanced its bonds for a net gain of nearly $15 million - money that it says will go towards widening Highway 101 south of Petaluma. This is great news as it will add to the much needed carpool lane network through Sonoma County that should have been built a long time ago.

But while work moves forward on new frontage roads, bridges and overpasses south of the city, the 800-pound gorilla in the room - the stretch of freeway through the heart of Petaluma - continues to go hungry, and is getting agitated.

Until funding is identified to widen the three-mile section of Highway 101 from Old Redwood Highway to Highway 116, Petaluma will continue to be known as the spot where the brake lights start. This section of freeway is even more closely tied to Petaluma’s congestion woes since it also holds the key to easing east-west crosstown traffic.

Decades ago, Petaluma sought another route across Highway 101 that bisects the city into two unique areas. Extending Rainier Avenue from its current terminus at North McDowell Boulevard to Petaluma Boulevard North is the most logical crosstown path, and is included in the city’s General Plan. Voters in 2004 overwhelmingly voiced support for the project.

But the Rainier extension hinges on Caltrans and the SCTA coming up with the $85 million to widen Highway 101 through Petaluma. Caltrans’ design for the widening project includes raising 101 and building a highway overpass at the spot where the Rainier extension will one day traverse. Without this work, there is no room for Rainier to be built, even if the city had all of the funding it needs to construct the road today.

Our local, state and federal representatives need to keep turning over every stone until they find the highway widening funds that will bring relief from the air-polluting, time-sucking traffic mess that the city’s 101 corridor has become.

Petaluma City Councilwoman Kathy Miller and Supervisor David Rabbitt, our representatives on the SCTA, have heard from frustrated motorists and are seeking solutions to the funding shortfall. Assemblyman Marc Levine and State Sen. Lois Wolk are well-positioned to find funding, which likely will come from state sources. State Sen. Mike McGuire, a former SCTA chairman, has been active on this issue even though his district does not include Petaluma. And to the extent that federal dollars can be found for the project, Rep. Jared Huffman can deliver for our district.

Let your representatives know that widening Highway 101 through Petaluma is central to improving the quality of life in southern Sonoma County, and ask them to make lobbying for funds a priority. Their contacts are listed below this editorial.

In the meantime, the Petaluma City Council should approve the Rainier extension’s environmental report and identify funds to build that project so that it’s ready to go whenever the 101 gates open up and allow the crosstown connector to pass underneath.

In a bit of sobering news, though, according to Caltrans’ website, the latest estimate for when funding will become available to widen the highway through Petaluma and build the overpass above Rainier is “after 2018.”

With that timeline, the traffic bottleneck on Highway 101 and on crosstown city streets will persist into the next decade.