Sinking Into Wetlands, This Northern California Highway Needs a Rescue

A California state highway connecting Vallejo and Novato in the San Francisco Bay Area will likely be underwater by 2100, prompting the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to develop a plan to widen and lift the roadway to prevent flooding and allow the area’s natural wetlands to return.

As Sonya Bennett-Brandt explains in Bay Nature, the project is complex: “Planning a highway at the edge of a rising bay has required an almost science fiction-esque brainstorm, like setting up a colony on Mars: hostile conditions, limited resources, and a long list of life-support systems that have to work in tandem.” Removing the highway altogether would create an arduous commute for the many low-income workers living in Solano County and working in Napa and Sonoma Counties. 

After a long series of discussions and proposed alternatives, Caltrans selected Alternative 5, a proposal that includes a raised causeway alongside the existing roadway. The entire plan will likely take decades to complete and cost $6 to 11 billion. While this will theoretically allow water to flow underneath to restore the Baylands, the question of what will happen to the old road — and how the project will be funded — remains open.