North Bay commuters stress over new longer carpool hours on Highway 101: 'A nightmare'

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- In the North Bay, Cal Trans is rolling out new longer carpool hours for Highway 101. Many drivers say it's creating even more traffic headaches from Santa Rosa to the Golden Gate Bridge.

"It's a nightmare, I'm retired and don't have to do it," said Monique Turner.

Many North Bay drivers say they're trapped in "carmageddon" otherwise known as Highway 101, where the average speed can be around 15 mph, morning and evening.

"They start at like 5 a.m., to 10 a.m... which is crazy. It's going to create more traffic," said David Gravel from Cotati.

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Earlier this month, officials rolled out new, longer carpool hours on a 52-mile stretch of 101 between Windsor and Mill Valley, 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. southbound, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. northbound.

"It's not moving traffic like it should, if that's their goal, this is not going to work," said Turner.

"It's important to have consistent carpool hours from county to county," said Cal Trans spokesperson Jeff Weiss.

Weiss says in the past, carpool hours differed between Marin and Sonoma counties.

"Reason for the change, Caltrans is prepared to open the last 15-mile stretch section of the Marin Sonoma narrows project," said Weiss.

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Weiss says that long awaited widening of 101 should improve traffic flow. For now... not so much.

"Carpool nine hours a day. I don't think that's going to help at all, it's going to make it worse for single riders, many are not commuting with someone else in the car," said Katie Clayton.

Clayton says the new carpool hours have added 30 to 45 minutes to her commute from Rohnert Park to Novato. She's taking action by launching a change.org petition, demanding Cal Trans reverse the expanded carpool hours. So far, more than 2,400 people have signed it.

"I just hope we can find a way to make everyone's life easier, not get caught up in daily traffic caused by Cal Trans decision," Clayton said.

Cal Trans says it's heard the complaints.

"We're trying to encourage people to carpool, pick up a passenger or ride the bus, we're trying to increase the number of people in each lane," added Weiss.

"It's unfortunate they didn't look into this further, how the community felt and didn't seek their opinion," Clayton added.

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