Closure of westbound Highway 37 near Novato to stretch into next week after latest storm damage

North Bay motorists will once again need to find an alternate route between Novato and Vallejo.

On Friday, state transportation officials confirmed they are planning for yet another extended closure of Highway 37’s westbound lanes after the latest major storm flooded the critical commuter artery.

The eastbound lanes remain open, but Caltrans officials expect the troubled westbound span between Atherton Avenue and Highway 101 will remain closed through early next week, if not longer.

Road crews were out for the second day on Friday to assess damage and use motorized pumps to remove the floodwaters as quickly as possible, said Caltrans spokesman Vince Jacala.

Caltrans will begin extending a newly built flood barrier along the roadway over the weekend, state Sen. Mike McGuire said. But the timeline to reopen the westbound lanes remained in question Friday, with more wet weather in the forecast starting Friday night and lasting into the weekend.

“We do not have a definite time to reopen,” Jacala said.

The flooding occurred when rain-swollen Novato Creek again breached a vulnerable levee in the right of way owned by Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit, with flooding compounded by tidal flows from the San Pablo Bay.

A breach in a different spot several hundred feet away led to a six-day closure of the westbound lanes in the same area in February. Nearly $2 million was spent on repairs by crews who worked around the clock to fully reopen the highway on Feb. 20.

Just a week later, the westbound lanes are closed again. It follows 27 days of full or partial closure to the highway in early 2017 because of flooding and has county officials fuming, as well as seeking long-term solutions.

“It’s more of the same,” said Sonoma County Supervisor David Rabbitt, who holds appointed posts overseeing regional transportation. “We really need a wholesale change going forward or we’ll just continue to do this year after year every time there’s a bad storm and make the same fixes.”

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission finalized an agreement earlier this week between Marin, Napa, Solano and Sonoma counties to spend $100 million in new bridge toll funds on improvements to Highway 37, dividing the money between near-term design and environmental work, and levee enhancements. However, a permanent fix to address the impacts of sea level rise on the state-managed highway is estimated at more than $3 billion and believed at least a decade or even two away from getting started.

“We need to fix this thing, and we can’t wait another 10 years for it to happen,” said Rabbitt, who sits on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. “Each and every year when it rains a substantial amount, it’s going to be closed. To me, that’s unacceptable.”

Emergency levees and a temporary road to access the breached levee were constructed last week at an estimated cost of $500,000. According to McGuire, those repairs appear to have withstood the latest storm, which started Monday and lasted three days, and should allow for another round of fixes sooner than later - if only the water would drain.

“Materials are already beginning to be stockpiled at the site of the levee,” said McGuire, D-Healdsburg. “It’s a fairly straightforward operation, but unfortunately we have to wait for the water to recede a little bit to allow the equipment in.”

Rabbitt said the new breach is in a slightly different location along the levee, which sits on the south side of the highway. The road, which sees roughly 45,000 cars per day, cannot be reopened until the levee is repaired or another solution is devised, such as temporary flood barriers, to keep water off the highway.

The cost of closing the breach - and fixing damage to the repairs made nearby in February ­- is not yet known. The problem spot remains underwater and engineers have so far been unable to lay eyes on it, said Doug Bosco, co-owner of Northwestern Pacific Railroad, which uses the tracks adjacent the highway to haul freight.

The cost of repairing the initial levee breach and the tracks was expected to reach $300,000, said Bosco, who is an investor in Sonoma Media Investments, which owns The Press Democrat. With another storm on the way, additional work may be delayed until there is a break in the weather.

“We’re expecting even more rain next week, and we’re wondering if it’s foolish to make the repairs and then run the risk of them being washed out again,” said Bosco. “We definitely want it fixed. It’ll get fixed, it’s just a question of when, how and how much.”

A meeting is scheduled early next week between the decision-making groups - Caltrans, Marin County public works, McGuire, SMART and NWP Co. among them - to decide next steps. A state of emergency declared by Gov. Gavin Newsom over the flooding should allow each party to tap federal emergency funds to recoup some of their repair costs - whatever the new price tag may be.

“I can’t estimate that yet,” said Bosco. “But we’ll certainly be standing in line with our tin cup to see what we can acquire along those lines.”

You can reach Staff Writer Kevin Fixler at 707-521-5336 or kevin.fixler@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @kfixler.