Traffic woes again... June will be even worse than you thought!

According to the Back-Seat Driver article in the Bee, you really should just stay home the entire month of June. Take a staycation, telecommute or just crawl in bed and cry because driving anywhere will be a nightmare.

As we've previously noted, the Fix I-5 project will cause major traffic delays throughout town. You can also add to that:

*Work on the Howe Avenue Bridge, with lane closures M-F 8:30am to 4pm

*Closing West El Camino at Northgate to rebuild the bridge. Why do you care? These people will be rerouted to Arden-Garden, one of the major diversions for the I-5 project.

*Replacing the median barrier on the Cap City freeway. This is supposed to take place at night but as with any construction project, there are leftovers in the morning. There will be traffic signs, cones etc. and the lookey-loos will slow down even more.

If you don't have a plan... you'd better find one. You have 16 days!

How will you get to work?

In case you haven't noticed the big, blinking signs on local freeways, the Fix I-5 Project is about to begin. If you don't have a backup plan, you need one now.

According to the project schedule press release, beginning Friday, May 30th at 8pm, all northbound lanes of I-5 from the interchange to Richards will be closed. Yes... closed. As in, NO you can't go that way. Friday, June 13th at 8pm, the reverse will happen and all southbound lanes (except 2 lanes for J Street exiting only) will be closed.

This is going to make a major mess of downtown. Even if you usually don't drive anywhere near I-5, your routes to work will be more crowded. Please make sure you have an alternate route worked out. If you can, talk to your boss about working an alternate schedule, biking, telecommuting or simply going on vacation!

Links to help you plan your routes:

North Natomas Transportation Management Association

Sacramento Regional Transit

Fix I-5 Page

Sacramento Regional Travel 511 Info

YoloBus

Amtrak Capitol Corridor

It's nearly Jazz Jubilee time and boy do we have a great surprise for visitors!

That's right ladies and gentlemen, it's nearly that time for Memorial Day weekend's Sacramento Jazz Jubilee. Nearly 70,000 visitors will come to Sacramento for probably our most famous event. The Jubilee has added 5 new venues on the K Street mall this year!

Now if you're not a jazz fan, this is a perfect weekend to flee town as fast as possible. 2008 is shaping up to be the worst- make reservations and get out of here now! Why?

News and radio keep saying that the Fix I-5 boat section project is scheduled to begin in late May. We see on the Fix I-5 website that they are going to make sure the downtown sections are open during the Jubilee. However, they don't say specifically when construction will begin or when the "set-up" will happen. Considering their press conference right by the boat section on March 17th about 30 min before the St. Patrick's day parade in Old Sac completely messed up traffic for at least an hour, I have little faith that they're going to think this one all the way through.