Highway 37 - Will new thoroughfare help or hurt roadside businesses?

August 20, 2005


Taking the high road
Will new thoroughfare help or hurt roadside businesses?

By RACHEL RASKIN-ZRIHEN/Times-Herald staff writer


Traffic on Highway 37 flows westbound as the highway's new overpass over Sonoma Boulevard, which opened Friday and allows through traffic to bypass surface streets, is seen in the background. This view is from the Sacramento Street overpass. (David Pacheco/Times-Herald)

One man's traffic jam is another man's potential customer base.

That's why not everyone is happy about the updated stretch of Highway 37, which promises to ease traffic. Other businesses, however, are giddy over the prospects of a smoother entrance to Vallejo.

Traffic often means business, something some nearby business owners fear they might lose when the new span opens in both directions by 8 a.m. today.

During the past decade as the project hit various roadblocks, motorists often spent long minutes stuck in traffic jams along Highway 29 and Marine World Parkway, said Russ Brode, longtime manager of the Marine World Parkway bar Popcorn Tavern.

"People used to pull off and into here to wait," Brode said. "I don't think there'll be as much traffic passing by and we'll just become a neighborhood bar. I just hope it won't be a drastic drop in business."

"I expect fewer cars and especially fewer big trucks, which I presume will be taking the highway," he said.

Kristine Lucina, of Vacaville, assistant manager of Popeye's Chicken on Marine World Parkway, said she hopes the new span will ease her commute. It may also make it easier for customers to get into the restaurant's parking lot, at the intersection of highways 29 and 37, she said.

Her boss, however, said he thinks the new highway will be bad for business.

"It will help with traffic, but in my business, more traffic means more customers," said Popeye's Chicken owner Mohammad Noor.

But for some businesses, the new span may actually be a boon.

Six Flags Marine World spokesman Paul Garcia called the opening of the new highway span "fantastic."

"This will be great for commuters. It will make a huge difference, especially on those weekends that Infineon Raceway has something going on," Garcia said. "People headed to the park and up to Napa, will find the commute a lot easier now."

The new highway is expected to make Mare Island more attractive to businesses that might consider locating to the area, particularly those that rely on truck traffic.

"We're thrilled," said Jason Keadjian, spokesman for Lennar Mare Island, the island's main developer. "This will improve access to Mare Island and in turn benefit the ongoing reuse. People are already using it. I drove on it, and it seems great."

Stalled for more than 50 years by red tape, political wrangling and natural disasters, the new $124 million span, constructed over the intersection of highways 29 and 37, still has about a month's worth of work before it's completely finished, a Caltrans spokesman said Friday.

"There's still work to be done. We're having to squeeze traffic through the unfinished portions," said Caltrans spokesman Steve Cobb. "We had some striping to finish, and that's why we had to have some lane closures Friday for a while. But it's going well. It's really close to being really great. People will love it."

The fact that traffic in the area was still fairly heavy Friday caused some concern for local residents who hoped the congestion would be nearing an end.

"We go to church in American Canyon and we use Highway 29," said Vallejo resident Jess Ciupek, 83, a Baptist minister in American Canyon. "For years you'd have a long wait going north on 29. We're expecting some change, but how much I don't know yet. It will be different for us, and I assume it will be better."

A retired Mare Island Naval Shipyard mechanical designer, Lou Simpson, 78, said he's not convinced things will improve with the new highway.

"I can't see how it will help," Simpson said. "It's just a freeway bypassing Vallejo. I don't know if it will ease traffic congestion. It's just more or less a freeway running through town. That's how I see it."

Caltrans will host a Sept. 2 ribbon-cutting ceremony with U.S. Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and Caltrans Director Will Kempton attending. The location of the event has yet to be decided.