PD Editorial: Tolls aren’t popular, but Highway 37 must be fixed

A year ago at this time, flooding forced Caltrans to close all westbound lanes of Highway 37 near the Highway 101 interchange for three days.

It wasn't the first time the highway was swamped by torrential rain and high tides - it wasn't even the first time flooding closed Highway 37 in February 2019.

With a prolonged dry spell and temperatures pushing 80, that may seem like a distant memory. But the outlook isn't any better. Highway 37 is one of the lowest-lying highways in California, and experts warn that rising sea levels will submerge the roadway within 30 years unless it is elevated or rerouted away from San Pablo Bay.

Highway 37 also suffers from a high volume of traffic and insufficient capacity, creating delays of up to 90 minutes during commute hours.

The estimated cost of improvements is as much as $4 billion.

About $30 million has been committed from the state gas tax increase enacted in 2017, and $100 million will come from bridge tolls, if the courts uphold toll increases approved by Bay Area voters in 2018. Perhaps some money will come from Washington if Congress and the president ever get beyond “infrastructure week” and pass an actual infrastructure bill.

One way or another, all of it will come from taxpayers.

So it's at least worth exploring whether Highway 37 should become the North Bay's first toll road, as proposed by state Sen. Bill Dodd, D-Napa.

“The time is now to improve this essential artery that connects us to jobs and supports our economy,” Dodd said Friday. “If we don't act, increased traffic and sea level rise will make an already bad situation simply unpassable. Without a dedicated revenue source, the problem won't be fixed in many of our lifetimes.”

A $5 to $6 toll could generate up to $650 million over 20 years, which would still leave the project more than $3 billion short.

Dodd isn't the first to propose a Highway 37 toll road. Five years ago, a Foster City company asked to convert Highway 37 between Vallejo and Sears Point to a private toll road, expand it from two lanes to four and elevate it to prevent flooding.

However, that plan didn't address the stretch of from Sears Point to Highway 101, where flooding already is becoming a chronic problem.

Critics say tolls are regressive, hitting lower-income commuters harder than their more affluent counterparts. That's true, but there are ways to soften the blow. Golden Gate Bridge tolls, for example, subsidize buses and ferries.

Highway 37 is the primary commuter and commercial link between Highway 101 and Interstate 80, carrying about 40,000 vehicles a day, a number expected to increase almost 50% over the next two decades. There isn't a convenient alternative.

Extended closures due to winter flooding are a headache for residents. A permanent loss of parts of the highway to rising sea levels would be an economic disaster. Tolls won't be popular, but Highway 37 is one of California's first major climate tests and, if nothing else, Dodd's legislation is an opportunity to explore possible solutions and debate how to pay for them.

You can send a letter to the editor at letters@pressdemocrat.com.