If you live in the Central Valley or have ever driven between Sacramento and the Bay Area, odds are that you’ve traveled on I-80 over the Yolo Causeway. This stretch of the interstate, linking West Sacramento and Davis, is an elevated structure over the relief floodplain of the Sacramento River. During the wet winter months, rice paddies can be viewed from the eastbound lanes.

The original Yolo Causeway opened on March 18, 1916 as a two-lane structure 21 feet wide and 16,538 feet (3.2 miles) long, costing $400,000. The Causeway Celebration was a four-day event (see poster above) celebrating the opening of the longest concrete highway in the world.

Before it was built, during the rainy season, car and wagon drivers in Sacramento had to detour south to Stockton and over the Altamont Pass to get to the Bay Area.

In 1962, the Causeway was expanded to six lanes and a separate pedestrian and bicycle lane was added to the north side of the structure, bringing the total width to 117 feet. From west to east, the Yolo Causeway is composed of twinned 2,880-foot-long concrete trestles, a 4,700-foot-long earth fill segment, and twinned 8,800-foot-long concrete trestles. The easternmost of the two bridges is the longer of the two, with each trestle carrying a three-lane roadway.

Caltrans, in collaboration with stakeholders, has begun work to construct improvements consisting of managed lanes, pedestrian/bicycle facilities, and Intelligent Transportation System (ITS) elements along Interstate 80 and US-50 from the Solano/Yolo County line in the west, through Yolo County, to West El Camino Avenue on I-80 and Interstate 5 on US-50 in Sacramento County.

Looking west over the start of the I-80 Yolo Causeway.

The designed purpose of the project is to:

  • Ease congestion and improve the efficiency of moving people through the region;
  • Improve freeway operation on the mainline, ramps, and at system interchanges;
  • Support reliable transport of goods and services throughout the region;
  • Improve modality and travel time reliability; and
  • Provide expedited traveler information and monitoring systems.

Flatiron’s new construction of the eastbound lanes of I-80, above, are located just past the eastern terminus of the Yolo Causeway and right before the I-80/Highway 50 split.

The project is needed for the following reasons:

  • Recurring congestion during the AM and PM peak periods;
  • Operational inefficiencies lead to the formation of bottlenecks;
  • Inefficient movement of goods and services impedes regional and interstate economic sustainability; and
  • Lack of real-time traveler information and coordinated traffic communication systems impedes timely response to roadway incidents, resulting in secondary collisions and increased congestion.

New lanes of Continuously Reinforce Concrete Pavement cure as diverted traffic flows between the Yolo Causeway and the City of Davis.

To resolve those issues, a high-occupancy toll lane is being added in each direction for free use by vehicles with three or more riders. Vehicles with less than three riders will also be able to use the new lane by paying a toll fee.

The Joint Venture of Flatiron Construction and Teichert Construction is performing the concrete pavement portion on the project under a contract valued at $206 million.

Flatiron’s Gomaco GP 2400 paver straddles the rebar configuration for the CRCP.

Work initiated in August 2023, with an anticipated completion in April 2026. To counter a ’23-’24 winter suspension, the team accelerated efforts last spring with increased placement work. In total for the project, 84,317 cubic yards of Continually Reinforced Concrete Pavement and 25,513 cubic yards of Rapid Strength Concrete will be placed.

Flatiron’s RexCon batch plant, located adjacent to the project, is supplying the concrete for the new pavement work.

Thanks to multiple 55+hour closures, along with ongoing nighttime paving, the anticipated completion date should be met. Extending the closures beyond 55 hours helps increase the amount of lane work completed during each closure. Minimizing the time required for traffic rerouting and start-up procedures increases the efficiency of the project.

The Flatiron-Teichert JV Team is working hard not only to meet the April 2026 completion deadline, but also to give baseball fans a smooth highway this season to the A’s games in West Sacramento.

Big thanks and a tip of the hard hat to Jon Hamilton, Rigo Vasquez, and Sam Martinez of Flatiron for all of their contributions to this article.