The big interchange project isn't completely finished, but the bulk of it is. The northbound carpool lane opened today, following onto the opening of the southbound lane earlier in the week. That brings the freeway to at least 8 through lanes, 4 in each direction, plus at least 1 auxiliary lane between exits. Between 237 and there are as many as 12 lanes. Most importantly, the carpool lanes now extend from San Leandro all the way to Milpitas.
I had the chance to drive south from Newark to San Jose at 6 p.m., and it was smooth sailing near the ballpark site. We'll see how the northbound commute looks today now that the its widening has been completed. It'll still be fairly congested to be certain, but there should be some alleviation. I'll be checking 511 to note any changes.
Update: 511's Flash-based map shows an incremental improvement in speeds through the area. At 5:30 p.m., the 880 @ Mission was moving northbound at 32 mph, compared to 19 mph yesterday. At 6:30, they were going 47 mph. Going southbound, cars were traveling at the limit or better today.
19 November 2008
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