A redesign of the Petaluma Boulevard South interchange at Highway 101 has some Petalumans asking for a U-turn from Caltrans and the county transportation authority.
The long-planned construction project calls for an overhaul of the overcrossing at the city's southern entrance. The plan would widen the roadway, create frontage roads, do away with several private-drive entry points, add several signal lights and a metering light to control traffic flow. It would also do away with the entry points at Kastania Road, replacing access by frontage road.
The $62.7 million project has been in the works since 2001 and the final environmental documents were certified in 2009. It is fully funded and work could begin in 2012, lasting for two years, said John Maitland, deputy director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority.
An overview of the design by SCTA managers received support from business and construction representatives this week, but drew concerns from commuters and some City Council members.
Ultimately, the council agreed the design could be improved, but made it clear the city did not want to jeopardize the project. The council will ask Caltrans to consider changes that wouldn't endanger about $35 million that comes from a variety of sources and is only available until 2012.
Several Petaluma-area residents urged the council to call on Caltrans to delay the work, arguing that the design is awkward and would add to delays for commuters at an already cumbersome interchange.
"I think Caltrans and SCTA have seriously shorted Petaluma commuters, and visitors and businesses," said David Keller, a former councilman who raised concerns years ago about the design. "They never even acknowledged there was a problem."
The redesigned overcrossing, roughly where the Chamber of Commerce sign is now, would do away with a stop sign and a yield sign at the existing northbound and southbound entries to 101.
They would be replaced with a modern "tight diamond configuration" typically seen on highway intersections around the state, project manager Ramsey Hissen said.
Drivers on the new onramps and offramps would encounter four signalized intersections headed south and three northbound. The signals would be coordinated to avoid backups during peak times and metering lights at the onramps would regulate flow onto the freeway, Hissen said.
The new interchange would be safer and more efficient than it is now, he said. It would also include an 800- to 1,000-foot long, 28-foot tall retaining wall along one section.
SCTA Director Suzanne Smith said any major changes are probably impossible at this point and would jeopardize funding for this project and potentially the as-yet-unfunded Novato Narrows widening further south.
"I feel like I have to deliver the bad news and reality check on this one," she said. "I don't believe we'd have the time, or design money, to redo the design."
Petaluma resident Bill Rinehart said Caltrans' design ignores potential effects on Petaluma's traffic.
"There may be too much focus on short-term immediate mission and not the long-term vision for our community," he said. "I don't see how anybody can reasonably say this is an improvement. And then to say it's too late for alternatives because we'd lose funding is too bad."
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