Solano County Commuting Patterns Changing With More Headed To Sacramento

Solano County Commuting Patterns Changing With More Headed To Sacramento
East Bay Business Times - by David Goll
Friday, April 18, 2008

While Solano County is the nexus for freight transportation between the Bay Area and Sacramento, it is fast becoming a dividing line for commuters as well.

Jim Spering, who serves on the Board of Supervisors in Solano County, said 46 percent of commuters in Solano County, which has major employers but also many bedroom communities, leave the county for work. The majority commute to Contra Costa County, but a growing number - now 15 percent - commute eastward to Sacramento.

"We have express buses, trains and ferries for the westbound commuters, but not so much for those going east," he said.

That imbalance will improve, Spering said, with the construction of a major transit hub along Interstate 80 in Vacaville, near the Vacaville Premium Outlets shopping center. The $11.5 million Vacaville Intermodal Station will provide not only a jumping-off point for express buses going to the Pleasant Hill and El Cerrito del Norte BART stations in the East Bay, but express buses, carpools and vanpools heading east to downtown Sacramento, too.

Spering said traffic congestion along the I-80 corridor connecting the Bay Area and Sacramento, is not just a local problem.

"Because this transportation corridor is vital for the movement of goods and people throughout Northern California, we need local, regional and interregional planning to tackle this issue," he said.

A bright spot for commuters, he said, is the popular Capitol Corridor train service that connects the Sacramento region with Solano County, the East Bay and South Bay areas. The train continues to set ridership records, the most recent a 14 percent increase during February from the same month a year before, with more than 1.5 million people taking the trains.

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