Hwy. 101 lanes opening by mid-December

It could be an early holiday present for motorists, a mid-December opening of six lanes of congestion-plagued freeway between Santa Rosa and Windsor.

“The contractor pressed to get started early in the year as opposed to taking a winter suspension. They were able to get some things going,” said Suzanne Smith, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority. “I drove up there Saturday. It's pretty amazing, they have gotten a lot done.”

The contractor, O.C. Jones of Berkeley, is expecting to have the highway project far enough along to open it to six lanes of traffic by mid-December, which would be nine months ahead of schedule.

“The partners took an aggressive approach to delivering it quickly. We have the added benefit of good weather,” Smith said. “It's what you hope for in a project.”

The six lanes from Steele Lane in Santa Rosa to the Windsor-River Road exit in Windsor will open even though the final paving will not be completed until next year, said Caltrans spokesman Bob Haus.

“A lot is what they are putting off until later, finding out what can we do later, what is the bare minimum to get it open now,” Haus said.

The final paving will have two coats, the first an asphalt using ground up, discarded tires and the second a better finish grade of asphalt, Haus said.

There will also be additional work on the ramps and guard railing next year.

That four-lane stretch of freeway is regularly congested during the morning and afternoon commute and on weekend afternoons.

It has been particularly bad in the past year as the speed limit was reduced to 55 mph, the lanes swerved around on-going work, and the pavement was often uneven.

The $82 million project will add extra lanes in the median strip of the existing freeway and rebuild some bridges where the highway crosses over creeks and flood control channels.

The additional lane will be designated as a car-pool lane.

The Santa Rosa-Windsor section is one in a series of projects to add lanes that will eventually stretch from Windsor to Novato.

Carpool lanes already have been added through downtown Santa Rosa to Wilfred Avenue in Rohnert Park.

Work is also underway on a $38 million project for a new Wilfred Avenue overpass and car-pool lanes to the Rohnert Park Expressway. That project is to be completed in August 2012.