> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.onsiteobserver.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Placer transportation agency considers opening part of I-80 carpool lane to all drivers - URL: https://www.onsiteobserver.com/placer-transportation-agency-considers-opening-part-of-i-80-carpool-lane-to-all-drivers/ - Published: 2026-09-29T01:02:38.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-29T01:02:38.000Z - Author: Vitaliy Moskalenko - Tags: Transportation Placer County transportation planners are considering opening part of eastbound Interstate 80’s carpool lane to all drivers to ease congestion and improve safety near the Highway 65 interchange. The change would end the carpool restriction a couple of miles west of the interchange, allowing solo drivers to use the left lane through the Highway 65 overcrossing, Matt Click, executive director of the Placer County Transportation Planning Agency, told the board Sept. 23. The agency has written to the Federal Highway Administration about the proposal and sent traffic studies after federal officials requested data. Staff were waiting to arrange a meeting, Click said. No change was approved Sept. 23\. Click did not give an exact location for the new endpoint, a cost estimate or a date when the restriction could be lifted. The carpool lane would remain farther west. “Not getting rid of it, but just moving the terminus,” Click said. Evening backups on eastbound I-80 can extend more than three miles from Highway 65, past Douglas Boulevard, according to [PCTPA’s project website](https://www.pctpa.net/i-80-sr-65-interchange-27547c3?ref=onsiteobserver.com). The agency identifies traffic turning from eastbound I-80 onto northbound Highway 65 during the evening commute as one of the interchange’s two main bottlenecks. Click said ending the restriction earlier would let more drivers move into the two left lanes and away from congestion. The goal, he said, is to make the interchange operate better and, “quite frankly, safer.” The idea came out of a workshop on improvements to the interchange and Highway 65 corridor, Click said, calling it one of the “very low money, no money” ideas to emerge. ## Sign up for Onsite Observer Sacramento-region development news: construction projects, permits, commercial real estate, and the local business trends behind them. Subscribe Email sent! Check your inbox to complete your signup. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Larger improvements have been in the works for more than a decade. Federal and state environmental approvals for the interchange came in September 2016\. The first phase, budgeted at $50 million and completed in 2019, added a third northbound Highway 65 lane from I-80 to Pleasant Grove Boulevard and improved the Galleria Boulevard/Stanford Ranch Road interchange. Future work includes replacing the loop ramp from eastbound I-80 to northbound Highway 65 with a direct connection and reducing weaving between Eureka Road and Highway 65\. Click told the board [March 25](https://www.onsiteobserver.com/long-planned-i-80-sr-65-interchange-fix-faces-800m-funding-challenge/) that the full project was estimated to cost $800 million, exceeding available funding. PCTPA has not set a construction date for the remaining interchange work. In November 2024, [Measure B](https://www.roseville.ca.gov/administration/city%5Fcouncil/engageroseville/measure%5Fb/index.php?ref=onsiteobserver.com#acc%5F0%5Fpanel%5F7) failed to receive the two-thirds voter approval needed to establish a half-cent transportation sales tax in Roseville, Rocklin and Lincoln. The measure was projected to raise about $41 million annually for 30 years for projects including Highway 65 widening, interchange improvements and local road repairs. At the workshop, held in March, planners divided the interchange improvements into smaller projects that could be built as funding becomes available. They also considered changes to how the existing lanes operate. The agency is pursuing a separate study of whether newer ramp meters and roadway sensors could improve traffic flow on Highway 65. At the Sept. 23 meeting, the board authorized applying for up to $700,000 in Caltrans planning funds for the Smart 65 Feasibility Study. Under the approved written proposal, the South Placer Regional Transportation Authority would provide another $140,000, bringing the study budget to as much as $840,000. The study would cover both directions of Highway 65 along six miles between I-80 and Lincoln Boulevard. It would evaluate “smart freeway” technology to reduce delays, make travel times more predictable and respond to crashes or other incidents within the highway’s existing footprint. Ramp meters control when vehicles enter the freeway. Click said newer technology could connect those meters with signals upstream and downstream and use roadway sensors to release traffic more efficiently. The agency plans to apply in October through Caltrans’ 2027-28 planning grant program. If awarded, the study would begin in fall 2027 and finish by the end of 2028. Separate work to widen southbound Highway 65 between Blue Oaks and Galleria boulevards remained on schedule to begin construction in spring 2027, Click said. The carpool-lane change still faces questions about federal requirements. Click said federal standards and policies can vary depending on how a lane was funded, and staff hoped to hear back from federal highway officials the week after the meeting.