Willow Road/U.S. 101 Interchange

New interchange layout

Starting Monday, October 8, 2018, the interchange layout will be updated and all 101 traffic will make right turns to get onto the freeway for both northbound and southbound directions.

Demolition activities

The remaining portions of Willow Road bridge at U.S. 101 will start being demolished Monday night (10/8/18) at 9:00 pm and the freeway will be closed overnight. Caltrans must perform the work at nighttime because demolition of the bridge deck, columns and abutments cannot safely be performed while 101 is open. High traffic volumes preclude full closures of the freeway during the day. The demolition is expected to be noisy, but the construction team has made changes to the demolition process to help reduce nighttime noise and perform some of the activities during the day. The demolition work is expected to continue through the end of October 2018. For more information, view the Caltrans' demolition flyer.

The modified demolition method includes sawing the existing bridge deck into pieces, then removing them using special equipment. The previously used method involved using large air-hammers to break up the concrete, which created loud and constant noise during demolition activities. While this modified method does not eliminate air-hammering completely, it does greatly reduce it.

Project Description

The City of Menlo Park is a project sponsor of the Caltrans project to update the interchange of U.S. 101 at Willow Road. This project was awarded to a contractor in February 2017 and construction began in May 2017 and is expected to continue for approximately 2 years. The current "full cloverleaf" style interchange will be replaced with a "partial cloverleaf" which will eliminate the short merge weaves both on Willow Road and on the freeway and will create a more efficient way for all modes of traffic, including bikes and pedestrians, to get across the freeway at Willow Road. The project will replace the existing interchange with a new, wider bridge; add sidewalks on both sides, bike lanes on both sides and protected bike paths on both sides; and add two signalized intersections. The final version of the new interchange layout is available for review.

Current construction activities

For more detailed construction information, please refer to the weekly construction news updates

Dates	Times	Impacted area	Activity	Traffic impacts
October 8 - October 22, 2018	Nighttime, hours TBD	Existing bridge area	Demolition of remaining existing bridge	Freeway will be completely closed. Noise impacts expected in surrounding area
October - February 2019	7 a.m. to 6 p.m., Monday to Friday	Median and both sides of freeway	Installation of new bridge structure columns and walls	Periodic freeway lanes closures may occur during non-peak hours
January - October 2018	8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday	Sound walls areas	Construction of new sound walls	No traffic impacts, but noise impacts may be experienced by adjacent residential areas
December 18, 2017 through TBD	3-7 p.m., Monday to Friday	Chester Street, Durham Street and O'Keefe Streets at Willow Road	No right turns	Right turns will be restricted every weekday from 3-7 p.m. for all vehicles
December 18, 2017 through TBD	3-7 p.m., Monday to Friday	Woodland Avenue to Baywood Avenue	No left turns	Left turns will be restricted every weekday from 3-7 p.m. for all vehicles
Early-October 2018	24 hours per day	U.S. 101 Ramps and Willow Road intersections	Change in ramp layout and added temporary traffic signals	New traffic signals will be turned on; Both SB ramps will be on south side; Both NB will be on the north side of Willow Road
Fall 2018 - October 10, 2018	24 hours per day	Willow Road between Bay Road and Newbridge Street	Construction of Willow bridge, no bicycles or pedestrians allowed	Bicycle and Pedestrian shuttle provided and Ringwood Avenue pedestrian bridge available as detour. Shuttle map
October 10, 2018 - Spring 2019	24 hours per day	Willow Road pedestrian access across 101 Sidewalk will be open on the north side of the bridge.	Sidewalk on the north side of the bridge will be open for pedestrians and to walk bicycles across the bridge.	The shuttle service will be discontinued.