There is finally hope ahead for beleaguered drivers who have endured the terrible northbound drive on Interstate 680 over the Sunol Grade during the afternoon commute and even on weekends for nearly two decades.

The Alameda Transportation Commission on Monday approved a $107 million contract to begin work on adding a carpool/express lane from Auto Mall Parkway to Highway 84, widening one of the most dreaded commutes in the Bay Area. Construction will begin early next year and take two years to complete.

The news was greeted with sighs of relief from the East Bay to Silicon Valley — as the 9-mile stretch ranks as the fourth most congested freeway in the entire region.

And it holds the dubious distinction of being the only freeway other than the approach to the Bay Bridge to hold down the No. 1 most congested spot. That was in 1999 at the peak of the dot-com boom when the I-680 drive through Fremont truly became a parking lot.

Today, speeds can drop well under 35 mph as early as 2:30 p.m. and continue until 8:20 p.m.

And when Lake Tahoe-bound drivers join commuters, forget about it.

“If you want to waste a lot of time, drive 680 north over the Sunol Grade on a Friday,” said Scott Haggerty, an Alameda County supervisor, when the most recent congestion report came out.

But its regular users who have felt the most butt-numbing pain.

Arunesh Das of Pleasanton says “it takes one-plus hours to cover this stretch.”

Lori Magruder says it now takes her three hours to get home at night to Discovery Bay from Fremont, almost an hour more than a year ago.

“Motorists block intersections (through Fremont),” she said. “There are daily road rage incidents, and inconsiderate drivers attempt to make lanes where there are none and drive over sidewalks and medians.”

And from Kimberly Cook: “The northbound 680 commute is obscene! … Taking 1½ hours to get over the Sunol Grade is ridiculous.”

Fremont has erected signs saying not to trust Waze to take city streets to bypass the mess on I-680 and banned some right and left turns. Police have been out to ticket those drivers. They’ve even used drones to monitor traffic.

Money for the widening comes from two sales taxes approved by Alameda County voters. If more funds can be found, work will begin in 2021 to extend the fourth lane to Highway 237.

“It is not every day that more than $100 million in local construction work hits the street,” said Art Dao, executive director of the Alameda County Transportation Commission.

The project also includes upgrades to the adjacent southbound I-680 Sunol express lane, which opened in 2010 as the first express lane in the Bay Area.

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