New 101 Alignment at Indianola Causes Morning Delays, Second Lane Now Open
Traffic flowing smoothly this morning over the new Indianola undercrossing. [Photo provided by Caltrans District 1]
But the changeover brought heavy backups, with traffic not clearing until around 9:30 a.m. when the second lane opened.
Caltrans District 1 announced the overnight shift in a social media update, noting that “while Humboldt slept, big progress was made on U.S. 101.” According to the agency’s post, all southbound traffic is now routed across the newly constructed undercrossing bridge at Indianola. A video released with the update features Project Manager Jeff Pimentel describing the new alignment and outlining the work still ahead.
According to Caltrans spokesperson Myles Cochran, tomorrow the northbound traffic will also be routed over the undercrossing. There might be temporary delays if the second lane isn’t completed before the morning commute so northbound morning drivers might want to build in some extra time tomorrow. However, after that, 101 should flow much more safely through the area.
The district’s announcement states that construction will continue into next year. Upcoming work includes:
- Building the new southbound on- and off-ramps at Indianola Cutoff
- Paving Indianola Cutoff beneath the new bridge
- Installing a half-signal at Airport Road
- Removing four existing median crossings and establishing wetlands
- Planting trees and shrubs along new slopes
- Constructing trail access between Indianola Cutoff and the Humboldt Bay Trail
Caltrans is urging drivers to travel through the area carefully and comply with posted speed limits.
This story will be updated once Caltrans responds to questions about the traffic delays and lane configuration.
Update: Northbound Traffic Shifts to One Lane on Indianola Undercrossing Bridge as Realignment Continues
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Maybe you mean “a.m.”?
“But the changeover brought heavy backups, with traffic not clearing until around 9:30 p.m. when the second lane opened.”
Thank you. Fixed.
It’s definitely worth a quadrillion $$$!
IMHO: Appropriated about $52 million ‘construction costs‘. (so far).
Great piece of engineering,
Wonder why seeming everyone was against it, and it took 27 years to get the project to this point?
Government (in)action …
Do we know why it’s an UNDER not an OVER?
Because cross traffic is rerouted under the highway and not the highway under the cross traffic. The change was to allow the cross traffic to go under the highway.
Goodbye Bayside Gardens! And any other business on that road…
Why?
IMHO:
Bayside cutoff is going to be closed off, (from the Southbound 101 lanes).
Once the greenies finish destroying the 101/Samoa/Old Arcata Road freeway interchange… it’s going to be tough to get there.
Oh well…
It’ll be soooo hard to drive an extra few minutes to the under crossing and then head back north to bayside cutoff.
Of course if drivers simply paid attention and drove the speed limit if 50, the whole under over crossing wouldn’t have been needed at all.
IMHO:
As far as southbound traffic.
Kinda depends on where you want to go.
Probably an extra 4 (+-) miles.
Maybe a mile down to the ‘Indianola Crossing’.
3/4 mile (or so) to up to the ‘Old Arcata Road’.
Then a few miles back to Bayside.
Or you could just take the Old Arcata Road from Arcata.
Arcata Greenies have that freeway intersection targeted, they want to make it a bicycle/pedestrian lane. I dunno any ‘rational’ reason why.
>”Of course if drivers simply paid attention and drove the speed limit if 50, the whole under over crossing wouldn’t have been needed at all.”
I don’t think there have been any fatal accidents at the Indianola Crossing since the speed limit has been reduced to 50.
Before that, there were a number of fatal or serious injury accidents at that intersection when the speed limit was 65. That was the reason for the ‘safety zone’ and the new construction.
Number of (recent) serious accidents at the Bayside Crossing, probably due to the traffic changes from the construction.
That traffic is going to go away pretty quickly.
I wonder if I’ll get home sooner to go doo doo
Come And Get Your Love …
DEPENDS
Not to flood on the parade, but will happen here over time with the predicted sea level rise?
Great point.
Brings to mind the illustrious words from Pumping Up with Hans and Franz:
“Listen to me now or hear me later.”
IMHO:
You may not have to wait for that.
Last Subduction Zone earthquake (1700) caused Humboldt Bay to lose 6′ in elevation.
Go out there at low tide… and know where to look, you can see the old mudflat elevation, now well submerged.
>”The magnitude 9.0 Cascadia earthquake in 1700 drowned forests, sunk coastlines by six feet” (ref: https://www.seismosoc.org/news/mysterious-fickle-hill-earthquake-in-northern-california-may-have-unexpected-source/“)
The 1980 7.1 quake resulted in lowering of ground level near Bhune point.
A couple mudflats disappeared below water line. The old ‘Shipwreck’ (marine aquarium site) is now pretty much underwater.
Yee hah !
It will be a good view when the tsunami hits. Those on top can watch everyone and everything get swept away.