Both the US 50 in West Sac and the Tower Bridge look to be shut down for periods this coming weekend. This could be a perfect storm for residents of West Sac who may not be able to leave their neighborhoods due to cut-thru freeway traffic congesting local streets, a detour Caltrans suggests in its press releases.
As reported previously here and here the Davis Vanguard in reprinted Caltrans press releases, the eastbound Highway 50 freeway will be closed in West Sac from the 50-80 split at Enterprise Blvd. to Jefferson Blvd. beginning next Friday 3/14 at 9pm thru Monday, and only opening Tuesday 3/18 at 5am. This is for Caltrans’ pavement rehab work and is not related to widening to add the I-80Yolo toll lane, whose construction is yet to begin.
Caltrans in those press releases has suggestion 3 lanes of freeway traffic can take surface streets across West Sac to get to Sacramento or South Lake Tahoe. Over 75,000 cars cross the causeway each way, every day, and often those peak flows are on the weekend for Tahoe trips.
Caltrans in its press release did not report the parallel closure of the Tower Bridge by Sutter Health Field on West Capitol Avenue. It will be shut down both Saturday and Sunday morning 7am until 1pm for the Shamrock charity Run. The event will put the bridge out of commission for 10 hours over two days.
In 2024 the charity event attracted 8,000 runners —when it raised $18,000 for Triumph Cancer Foundation. This works out to $2.25/ per runner—likely in range of 3-6% out of the total registration fees paid by runner : $26 (kids) or $86 (5k/10k)or $113 (adult half marathon) are the registration fees per runner. One assumes the other 95% revenue generated is going to event organizers “Shamrock Event Management, Inc.” In the past the media described the event as being run by Fleet Feet, Inc., which still seem to continue to be heavily involved as corporate sponsor.
300 people got cancer recovery services from this small foundation in 2022 as reported on their IRS 990
History gives a sense of what to expect in Davis and Woodland. As in the past when accidents have shut the freeway eastbound, people routed to I-5 in Woodland via northbound Pole Line/Road 102 from Davis and or Route 113. Drivers are advised to plan lots of extra time to get to the airport. Yolobus 42 schedules should be a total mess. Amtrak is expected to provide normal service.
It is unclear who is coordinating use of public roads (e.g. Tower Bridge/Highway 50) for the public good, but Yolo County’s official Congestion Management Agency is Yolo Transportation District (YoloTD). Its board is supposed to coordinate with Caltrans, to whom they gave over $100 million in 2024 to address I-80 causeway congestion on I-80 and US50 and cut-through traffic. YoloTD board is made up of council members from all Yolo county cities (Josh Chapman and Lucas Frerichs from Davis). The board does not put their contact information on YoloTD website, but they can be reached here by email or by leaving a voice mail comment for entire board. 530 402-2819. (24/7). Preface your comment with, “This is for YoloTD Board Chair Dawne Early and members.” The message will be transcribed and given to board members, but, sadly, not put into the public record or minutes. Don’t be put off by the blind voicemail greeting message. A better alternative is to call in to make public comment during 3/9 Monday 6pm meeting so they can hear you in real time. The meeting Zoom link is here. The agenda and board meeting is on its website here.
