Commerce Blvd. Closure Looms Aug. 1

As if driving on Highway 101 through Rohnert Park isn’t bad enough, further inconvenience awaits in the next couple weeks. The Commerce Boulevard underpass, one of the primary links between the west and east sides of town, will be closed for a 12 day period beginning Monday, Aug. 1.

The closure will enable the complete demolition of the low freeway bridge over Commerce, and removal of any debris. The two week period is scheduled to end Friday, Aug. 12, so only one weekend is inconvenienced.

The construction and detours are part of the Wilfred Avenue Interchange Project, which will result in an underpass beneath the new, higher US 101 connecting Wilford on the west side with Golf Course Dr. on the east.

The plans for the closure were outlined to the City Council on Tuesday night by Seana Gause of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority in a 20-minute presentation, with questions from council members.

In brief, Commerce will be closed between Golf Course Drive on the south end and its connection with Redwood Dr. on the north end, a distance of less than a quarter mile.

Westbound traffic will be detoured down Commerce to Rohnert Park Expressway, over the freeway to Redwood Dr, then north to the Wilford Ave. area, Gause explained.

Eastbound traffic from the area of Redwood and Wilford will be diverted onto the Southbound 101, then exit at Rohnert Park Expressway, and re-directed back onto Northbound 101 to exit at a temporary Wilford Ave. exit.

Two years ago, Caltrans spokesman Robert Haus reminded the council, Commerce Blvd. was closed in exactly the same way, with the same detours in place. At that time he made a video of the detours and will again post it on the Caltrans website, presumably on this video page.

Prior to the closure of Commerce Blvd., the freeway traffic currently using the “trough” between the higher roadbeds on either side will be diverted to the new overpass, with the northbound traffic making the move on Friday, July 22 and southbound traffic about the July 28.

For a period of about a year, both northbound and southbound US 101 traffic will share what will become the northbound overpass, until complete construction is completed on the main 101 corridor in the area.

Maps and before-and-after photo simulations from Caltrans accompany this article.

Completion date for the entire project is estimated to be sometime in 2013, but another wet winter could further delay the project, originally scheduled to end in 2012.