Sierra Club Redwood position statement on restructuring of State Highway 37
The environmental community and Caltrans have been working to restructure State Route 37 between Vallejo and Marin County for nearly a decade. The scarcity of affordable housing along the Highway 101 Corridor has led to such heavy commute traffic on the 21-mile-long highway between Vallejo and Novato that unacceptable levels of congestion occur on a daily basis. Also, parts of the highway are barely above sea level, and increasingly affected by flooding as sea level rises. The Sierra Club recognizes the importance of offering commuters better travel options, and the need to raise the highway to causeways that will provide unimpeded movement of Bay water across the right-of-way.
However, rather than proceeding with causeway projects for the nine-mile right of way between Sears Point and Mare Island, “Interim” highway widening has been proposed. Such a project is likely to impair flows of water to significant parts of the San Pablo Bay wetlands during the “interim.” More significantly, widening the existing highway could become a permanent substitute for causeway construction. As sea level gradually rises, it might seem easier, cheaper, and faster to elevate the roadway a few inches at a time to keep it from going under water. The road would become a barrier, interfering with tidal flows across the right-of way.
We think it highly imprudent to invest many millions of dollars and destroy acres of wetlands, to widen a few miles of a road that is threatened by flooding during storms and is certain to experience more frequent “100-year floods” in the future. It is far preferable to address the inevitability of sea level rise from the outset, and to use available resources responsibly by beginning phased construction of the ultimate project, starting with modifications to the Tolay Creek bridge, and aiming for completion of the entire 21-mile project earlier than the current 2036 target year.
The highway bisects and impairs the San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge and other bay lands that have constituted one of the largest tidal wetlands on the west coast. Elevation of the highway to a causeway can reconnect this wetland complex to the Bay waters, initiating nature-based solutions to avoid some of the worst effects of the expected minimum 3.5-foot rise in sea levels by 2050. Wetlands sequester carbon dioxide and encourage biodiversity by increasing ecologically vital habitat. They play a crucial role in meeting the State’s 30 by 30 goals. Elevating the highway may also increase climate resilience for North Bay communities by allowing more sediment flow into San Pablo Bay to protect marshes and communities against sea level rise. Improvements to SR-37 must be evaluated in the context of these critical environmental objectives.
A resilient SR-37 corridor must also contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions that are produced by long-distance commutes. Statewide, reductions in single-occupant vehicle trips, more housing close to jobs, and more jobs close to housing are needed to reduce the number of long-distance commutes that now drive much of the climate crisis. The SR-37 corridor is no exception, but the huge difference in housing costs between upscale Marin- Sonoma counties, and comparatively affordable Solano-Napa counties call for public transit alternatives that will help reduce the number of people driving 50 miles per day.
At present, there is NO public transit between Vallejo and Marin County! A near-term solution is for Solano Transit to provide convenient, economical express bus service, and a long-term solution is likely to include passenger rail service. Bus service is currently being studied, but the buses will need to bypass the slow-moving cars and trucks that are working their way toward the two-lane stretch of road between Mare Island and Sears Point, which operates at speeds up to 45 miles per hour.
The addition of diamond lanes at both ends of the two-lane segment of the existing roadway would enable buses, as well as vanpools, and car-pools to bypass the slow-moving single-occupant vehicles. Road-space for such bypass lanes is already available at the east end of the two-lane segment of highway. However, there is little road-space for a shared vehicle bypass between the Highway 121 intersection and the two-lane highway bridge over Tolay Creek. This road-space can be provided by prioritizing construction of a causeway/bridge from Sears Point to the Sonoma River; the causeway would have an east-bound diamond lane to give express buses and car-pools priority over single-occupant vehicles during afternoon peak traffic hours.
An important advantage of a shared vehicle bypass is that it gives commuters who use an express bus, vanpool, or car-pool a substantial time-saving advantage, and visibly reminds those in single-occupant vehicles of that advantage, thus providing a strong incentive to cease driving alone. We have known for more than a decade that, in addition to shifting drivers into electric vehicles, we must reduce the number of single-occupant vehicles on the road to deal with the climate crisis.
Through the recent PEL process, project design alternatives and accompanying stakeholder input indicate that a multiple-benefit, multi-modal, built-for-resilience causeway would best meet long term objectives, enjoy broad public, political and environmental support, and qualify for several significant public funding sources, including state and federal funding for environmental protection, resiliency and expanding and improving rail service.
Furthermore, it has long been demonstrated that road widening does not reduce congestion, an objective that instead depends largely on giving commuters access to van-pools and high-quality transit rather than driving in single-occupancy vehicles.
All these decisions must also be approached through an equity lens. Although tolling may prove to be inevitable, it is neither inevitable nor equitable to place the primary financial burden on comparatively disadvantaged commuters from Solano County who make up most of the daily traffic, especially during peak hours, and to expect the affluent communities of Marin and Sonoma Counties who benefit from their services to pay nothing. Nor would it be equitable to impose a toll merely on the eastern segment of the highway, burdening Solano-Napa county residents while Sonoma Valley drivers have free access. Imposition of tolling could be acceptable only if it applies to the entire highway and is accompanied by substantial low-income discounts for both tolls and transit. The MTC Clipper Card already provides a precedent.
We support MTC’s desire to improve Highway 37, but this must be done in a way that is cost-effective, durable, environmentally sound, and equitable. An outdated conventional highway widening project will impede rather than further the imperatives of climate resiliency.
