By Barry Eberling | DAILY REPUBLIC | July 27, 2009
Drivers make their way down I-80 at rush hour on Monday evening. Local residents will have a chance to see Solano Transit Authorities plans for the future of local highways at open houses tonight and Wednesday in Fairfield. Photo by Chris Jordan
FAIRFIELD - Solano County's freeways of the future could include more lanes, the area's first metering ramps, more cameras and perhaps even more landscaping.
Residents tonight and Wednesday will have a chance for a preview. The Solano Transportation Authority is holding open houses for the proposed interstates 80/680/780 plan that looks ahead to 2030.
Tonight's open house is from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Fairfield-Suisun School District office, 2490 Hilborn Road in Fairfield. The Wednesday open house is at the same time at the Solano Community College extension, 545 Columbus Parkway, Vallejo.
One approach to easing freeway congestion is to add more lanes. The study includes such recommendations as building Interstate 80 carpool lanes between Fairfield and Vacaville and adding lanes between Travis Boulevard and Air Base Parkway.
But the study also focuses on getting more out of what already exists.
The county's first onramp meters could come at I-80 at the eastbound Green Valley and Suisun Valley road interchanges. Drivers would stop briefly on the ramps until they got a green light to enter the freeway, thus spacing out the merging traffic.
More closed circuit television cameras would go up along the freeways. These would feed images to the state Department of Transportation's monitoring room in Oakland, where officials observe Bay Area traffic.
Should a traffic accident or vehicle breakdown occur, Caltrans officials can find out quickly through the cameras. Then they can dispatch a tow truck to the scene to remove disabled vehicles and get traffic flowing again.
See the complete story at the Daily Republic online.
