Overview

• AB 697 passed the Assembly and Senate unanimously and was signed, positioning Caltrans, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and North Bay counties to launch construction in 2026.
• The measure allows California Department of Fish and Wildlife incidental take permits for the salt marsh harvest mouse, Ridgway’s rail, California black rail and white-tailed kite with required mitigation.
• By expanding work beyond the previous 10–12 week seasonal window, the law is intended to reduce delays and costs that planners said would otherwise mount under species timing restrictions.
• The 10-mile Sears Point–Mare Island project would add a lane in each direction, replace the Tolay Creek Bridge, widen the Sonoma Creek Bridge, extend an eastbound merge lane, install a tolled eastbound managed lane and restore degraded tidal marsh.
• Supporters cite congestion relief and flood protection for roughly 40,000 daily users, while groups including TransForm, Sierra Club California and NRDC warn of weakened safeguards, short-lived benefits under sea-level rise and potential diversion from a long-term elevated corridor.