VALLEJO, California: In the North Bay, there will soon be a new toll road. From Vallejo to Sonoma County, a 10-mile stretch of Highway 37 will be turned into a toll road.
The traffic on this one-lane stretch is very bad right now, and transportation officials want to make it wider by adding a toll to pay for that.
On Wednesday, the California Transportation Commission voted unanimously to make that part of the highway a toll road.
It is expected to bring in $430 million, which will pay to make the road wider in both ways and add a carpool lane. The toll would not have to be paid by people in the shared lane.
Officials in charge of transportation say drivers won’t be charged until two things happen first:
Between Marin County and Vallejo, there is full bus service, so people can take the bus instead of driving on that highway.
- For drivers with low incomes, a scheme that gives discounts on tolls is made.
- The toll is not expected to work until 2027.
The exact price hasn’t been decided yet, but it’s likely to be about the same as what people pay to cross Bay Area bridges: $7.