Highway 37 reopened in Novato after flood repairs

NOVATO, Calif. (KGO) -- Highway 37 has reopened in Marin County after it was closed for weeks due to flood damage.

All the rains and the king tides were much for this area to handle triggering a closure of the highway.

Caltrans hired a contractor to work around the clock. There is now new pavement, new guardrails and a new drainage system with larger pipes.

The hope is that the flooding will never happen this bad, or last this long again. There will still be some lane shut downs as crews do some final finishing touches, but they won't do that during peak hours.

Many commuters this morning were excited about the highway reopening. "I am ten minutes earlier on my job and that's kinda cool for me," said Rechel Acorda, a Vallejo resident.

Many drivers say it's a welcomed change, but they had just gotten used to the detours on their morning commute.

"Somewhere between 20 minutes to half an hour. They had to go around to highway 116 in Petaluma then around," said Tony Bennett who's kids were taking him to work in the mornings from Fairfield to Santa Rosa.

The shut down had an interesting effect on Rossi's deli. Instead of losing business, they actually saw an uptick in people stopping by because they needed a break from sitting in the traffic.

"The people come just for the bathroom, For the time and they just buy the water," said Odida Cifuentes, who works as a clerk at Rossi's.

"I knew this was going to happen they should have fixed it a long time ago," one commuter told ABC7.

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