Another Lane On The Yolo Causeway Could Come With A Toll

YOLO COUNTY (CBS13) — A constant source of congestion along Interstate 80 has Caltrans exploring adding more lanes and possibly charging a toll during peak commute hours.

Caltrans says about 150,000 commuters travel to and from the causeway every day, creating a bottleneck at certain times of the day and a bigger headache on weekends.

It's one of the most dreaded commutes into and out of Sacramento. All of those cars try to push through the Yolo Causeway.

"Literally every day if you're going that direction between after 2 p.m. between 2 and 6 p.m., you'll go bumper to bumper," said commuter Gerardo Deltoro.

Others try to avoid it altogether by taking Highway 113.

Caltrans says the bottlenecks have been a problem for the past decade, but now the agency is considering a new idea to ease the congestion—another lane between Davis and Sacramento. It would also add an additional lane from Highway 50 to the Interstate 5 junction and rehabilitate the current roads.

In total, that's about 14.5 miles of work.

Caltrans is hoping to get the funding through various means, but if that doesn't happen, it's floating the idea of charging a toll during peak hours for that additional lane. Much like the rest of the project, it's too soon to know how much that toll would be.