Is COVID-19 saving Bay Area from ‘carmageddon’? Crews speed up big projects with freeways and trains nearly empty
https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/04/20/is-covid-19-saving-bay-area-from-carmageddon-crews-speed-up-big-projects-with-freeways-and-trains-nearly-empty/
Even by the fearsome standards of Highway 101 traffic, this summer was shaping up to be especially miserable. Crews were set to replace a section of the congested freeway through its hulking interchange with Interstate 280 in San Francisco in July, shutting down the northbound lanes, forcing some 240,000 daily commuters onto detours and backing up traffic for miles down the Peninsula.
But with rush-hour congestion practically nonexistent these days and car traffic down as much as 60 percent, Caltrans officials moved the replacement project up to this month in a bid to spare thousands of drivers from a project that had been dubbed the Bay Area’s “carmageddon.”