Feds contributing another $20 million toward fixing State Route 37

Big grant to help protect road, drivers from rising seas, sinking embankment.

photo credit: Courtesy Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Rising seas and subsiding earth are causing real problems for commuters.

Ambitious short and long term plans to shore up State Route 37 against rising seas moved closer to breaking ground this week.

On Tuesday, congressman Mike Thompson and John Garamendi, who represents an area stretching from Solano County to the Delta, announced that $20 million in new federal highway money will be earmarked toward the highway, which connects US 101 in Novato with Interstate 80 in Vallejo.

Urgent work on the seemingly perpetually clogged highway with its two lane segments will help reduce flooding and shore up subsiding soil beneath the road to stop it from sinking further, among other work.

The funding, via the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, will allow Caltrans to proceed with its “Resilient State Route 37 – Sears Point to Mare Island Improvement Project.”

A longer term fix, which may involve eliminating single lane segments, is still being finalized.

Travel may be more chaotic over coming weekends---with westbound travel detoured the weekend of April 19 and 26th and eastbound travel detoured the first two weekends in May.