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Hearn Avenue Highway 101 Overcrossing Project to Improve Access & Safety for Pedestrians and Bicyclists in Santa Rosa

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SANTA ROSA - Caltrans, the Sonoma County Transportation Authority (SCTA), and the City of Santa Rosa broke ground today on the $43.7 million U.S. Highway 101/Hearn Avenue Overcrossing Project, which features new sidewalks, Class 4 bicycle lanes, and other elements designed to reduce congestion and better serve people who walk and bike in southern Santa Rosa. 

Photograph of the Hearn Avenue overcrossing of U.S. 101 in Santa Rosa, California. A bicyclist rides along the left-hand side of the roadway while cars are stopped on the right-hand side.

The existing overcrossing spans U.S. Highway 101 with a single eastbound and westbound lane. Only a narrow sidewalk crosses the overpass in a community with multiple businesses and more than 6,400 housing units. 

To address this need, Caltrans will build two full-sized pedestrian sidewalks, extending them to the existing pathways on each eastern street corner so pedestrians will not need to walk on the highway shoulder. 

By removing and rebuilding the overpass, Caltrans will create enough space to add two Class 4 bicycle lanes, complete with barriers separating the bike and vehicle lanes.

“An overcrossing should be more than a passageway over a freeway; it should be a means to connect communities,” said Dina El-Tawansy, Caltrans Bay Area Director. “The new Hearn Street Overcrossing will improve traffic flow by widening the bridge and ramps and adding two bicycle lanes and sidewalks for pedestrians, promoting multimodal travel in this underserved area.” 

Adding bike lanes and sidewalks in this Santa Rosa community emphasizes the department’s safety-first priority and underscores its commitment to projects that reconnect communities and create safe and convenient travel options for people who walk and bike.

This is a rendering of the project on an aerial image. It shows the project limits from roughly Corby Avenue crossing US 101 to Santa Rosa Avenue, the southbound US 101 off-ramp to where it intersects with Corby Avenue, and the section of Corby Avenue from that intersection to Hearn Avenue. The rendering shows the increased width that will include additional travel lanes, raised median, sidewalks and bikeways, and provides a cross section view of the roadway with these improvements. The rendering also shows how the project will connect to the SMART multi-use path to the west and proposed ADA elements at the intersections within the project limits.
The new Hearn Avenue Overcrossing will dramatically improve traffic circulation and reduce congestion by widening the overpass and ramps and adding bicycle and pedestrian lanes.

This project is an example of Caltrans’ Complete Streets Program, which adds multimodal upgrades to new projects when feasible.

The project was first envisioned in the 1990s and became feasible in 2004 when Sonoma County passed Measure M, a quarter-cent sales tax to fund transportation improvements. In 2020, voters approved an extension of Measure M. 

The SCTA contributed $17.2 million through Measure M funds, and the City of Santa Rosa contributed $9.4 million. 

The project also received $17 million in state funds, $8.6 million through the Senate Bill (SB) 1 LPP competitive program, $5 million through SB 1 Local Partnership Program (LPP), and $3.4 million from the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP).

When completed in late 2025, the Hearn Avenue Overcrossing will comply with new regulations to allow taller vehicles to pass beneath. 

For more information about the Hearn Avenue Replacement Project, go to: US 101/Hearn Avenue Regional Multimodal Interchange | Caltrans.

For 24/7 traffic updates, please visit 511.org: https://twitter.com/511SFBay
For real-time information, please visit Caltrans QuickMap: http://quickmap.dot.ca.gov or follow Caltrans on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/CaltransD4

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