State approves funding to widen 101 from Cotati Grade to Petaluma

<p>The California Transportation Commission approved $22.8 million to widen Highway 101 from the Cotati Grade to northern Petaluma, filling in a significant piece of the funding puzzle for the freeway project.</p><p>The award, approved Wednesday at a commission meeting in Sacramento, provides the final pot of money needed to create carpool lanes on a 1.5-mile stretch of Highway 101 from Pepper Road on the Cotati Grade to just south of the Old Redwood Highway interchange in Petaluma. </p><p>“This is really great news,” said Suzanne Smith, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority. “We're going to have high-occupancy-vehicle lanes from Petaluma north to Windsor.”</p><p>Local Measure M funds will make up the remaining $2.5 million of the $25 million cost of widening the segment.</p><p>Construction is set to begin in the fall, with completion expected sometime late next year, Smith said. </p><p>Immediately to the north, work began last month on the 5-mile stretch from Pepper Road north to the Rohnert Park Expressway. Officials expect that segment to be completed in 2012.</p><p>The 1.5-mile stretch from the Rohnert Park Expressway to Wilfred Avenue, which includes construction of a new overpass, could be complete in 2013 or later. </p><p>Plans for Highway 101 from Petaluma south to the county line, including the Novato Narrows, are still in the design phase. </p><p>That $700 million undertaking, including work on interchanges, frontage roads and carpool lanes in Novato, could see construction begin next year.</p>