Preparations are underway to remove obsolete toll booths from the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, setting a course for it to become the first bridge in the Bay Area with open-road tolling.
The work to take out the booths, which are on the Richmond side of the westbound upper deck, is set to begin on Dec. 10, according to the California Department of Transportation. Caltrans owns the bridge and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission-Bay Area Toll Authority manages it.
“In a nutshell, the shift to ORT is to make both traffic flow and toll collection more efficient,” said John Goodwin, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, referring to open-road tolling. “This is expected to increase safety and to reduce emissions.”
Toll booths on the bridge haven’t been used since 2020. The agency stopped cash collection in favor of FasTrak toll tags.
The project on the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge will be the first in a $318 million program to transition all seven state-owned bridges in the Bay Area to open-road tolling. The projects are funded by bridge toll revenues.
After removing the toll booths, crews will install a temporary tolling system that will read FasTrak transponders and license plates for charging tolls. Workers also will restripe the toll plaza pavement.
In the final step, expected to happen in 2027, crews will install a toll gantry, an overhead structure with mounted toll readers.
“The project is expected to provide better mobility and better times for motorists,” said Matt O’Donnell, a spokesperson for Caltrans.
Construction will require overnight westbound lane closures while workers remove booths and install the temporary tolling system, O’Donnell said. Full overnight closures are expected during the gantry installation. Caltrans plans to issue traffic advisories along the way.
The switch to open-road tolling is part of a suite of improvements called the Richmond-San Rafael Forward program. The other projects involve improvements on the bridge approach in Richmond, including upgrades along Cutting Boulevard and on Richmond Parkway at Castro Street.
For commuters, the labor groups they belong to and their employers, the changes couldn’t come soon enough.
“I think it’s a game-changer for those commuters using the bridge daily to get to work in Marin,” said Joanne Webster, chief executive officer of the North Bay Leadership Council. “They are the backbone of Marin’s economy. Putting a focus on making that commute reasonable will make a huge difference.”
Rollie Katz, executive director of the Marin Association of Public Employees, agreed. The union represents the majority of the county’s employees, including the lowest-paid workers.
“This is one more step toward improving the morning commute for workers who have to drive across the bridge to get to work,” Katz said. “Each of these steps will make incremental improvements. We look forward to this project being completed.”
Katz and Webster were strong proponents of the recently implemented “modified pilot” on the bridge to reopen the upper deck shoulder during heavy commute days to use as an emergency lane.
The project involves removing access to the bike lane across the span from Sunday evening through Thursday evening by pushing aside a moveable barrier. A shuttle for cyclists is offered on days the path is closed. Path access is restored on weekends.
The bike path was installed in 2019 as part of a four-year pilot program. After underwhelming performance and contentious deliberation, officials agreed this year to try the modified pilot for up to three years. The plan also enables bridge managers to study the potential for a commuter lane on the upper deck for carpools and transit.
The modified pilot program, which began in late October, is now the third phase of the bike path pilot program.
Goodwin said it is too early to draw any conclusions from the change. In the first three weeks, daily shuttle use ranged from a low of 12 riders to a high of 39.
Headways have averaged 20 minutes in non-peak hours and 25 minutes in the morning peak, but have been as high as 45 to 50 minutes from 7 to 8 a.m. hour because of onramp traffic from Point Richmond and on the freeway, Goodwin said.
Queue length and queue duration both have declined, Goodwin said. Travel times between the Interstate 80/Interstate 580 interchange and San Rafael have dipped slightly, while overall westbound traffic volume has remained steady, he said.
