Hopland's Highway 101 Rebuild Is in Its Final Weeks. What the Finished Main Street Will and Won't Include

Between Feliz Creek Bridge and a point just north of First Street, the half mile of U.S. 101 that serves as Hopland's main street has been taken down to its base layer and rebuilt one block at a time since July. The sidewalk phase is due to end at the close of October. Caltrans expects final paving around mid-November, and its project page puts completion in November 2026.

Once the cones come down, the street will be wider for walking and better marked for crossing than anything downtown Hopland has had. It also leaves out the items Caltrans set aside for a separate, future project. Flashing beacons at Center Street and Mountain House Road, upgraded lighting and drainage work aren't part of this contract.

Half a mile, rebuilt curb to curb

The official name, the Hopland 101 Project, undersells it. Caltrans frames the project as Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, covering curb ramps, sidewalks and driveways, but the scope also includes rebuilding the roadway, rehabilitating the pavement and replacing signs between post miles 10.7 and 11.2. Caltrans lists $11,187,000 for roadway and construction plus $804,000 for right-of-way. That's roughly $12 million budgeted for about half a mile of town frontage.

That money buys a new layout. Caltrans's winter 2024–2025 design update describes the configuration from the storefronts out to the center line, the same on both sides of the highway:

The same update calls for seven high-visibility crosswalks inside the project limits, along with bike striping, better sight distance, and upgraded guardrails and end treatments. For anyone who has walked from the Thatcher Hotel to a tasting room across the highway, painted crossings and a continuous sidewalk are the changes they'll notice first. The video presented all of this as a proposal, and how it's built and striped in November will be the final word.

What waits for the next contract

The same Caltrans presentation divides the work in two. It says that "in a future project" the agency proposes to replace or rehabilitate drainage systems, upgrade lighting, install a traffic census station, and add rectangular rapid flashing beacons at Center Street and Mountain House Road.

That split matters for daily routines more than the cross-section does. Center Street and Mountain House Road are the two intersections Caltrans picked for beacons, the push-button flashers that tell drivers someone is stepping off the curb. This fall, those spots get crosswalks and curb ramps under the current contract, while the flashers stay on the future list. The same goes for an evening walk to dinner. The new sidewalk arrives now, and the upgraded lighting comes with a later project that has no published construction date.

The current project page doesn't set a schedule or budget for that second phase. It lists only the current contract's milestones: PG&E utility relocations and broadband installation complete, the ADA project started, and construction complete in November 2026. The utility work came first. Mendocino Voice reported in March that the PG&E gas-line relocation would start that month and run through June. When the Ukiah Daily Journal covered the start of main construction in July, it said the relocation was expected to continue until August. Downtown's road work came in phases, each one waiting on the one before it, and the beacons and lighting are the next phase.

The last weeks, in order

At the August 19 meeting of the Hopland Municipal Advisory Committee, Caltrans Senior Transportation Engineer Matt Solano presented the remaining schedule alongside field representatives from OC Jones, the contractor. Here's the sequence as recorded in the minutes, with the current project page alongside:

1. Roadway work, late August to early September. Phase 4a ran August 23 to 28 and Phase 4b ran August 30 to September 4, with roadway operations expected to finish by September 4.
2. Sidewalks, driveways and ramps, September 8 through the end of October. The minutes give October 30 as the end date and the Caltrans page gives October 31. Phase 5A covers the southbound side from Mountain House Road to Center Street and the northbound side from First Street to the north end of the project.
3. Final paving, around mid-November.
4. Construction complete, November 2026, according to the project page. Caltrans's earlier announcements used "winter 2026."

During the sidewalk phase, crews stagger the work so that no two consecutive blocks are under construction at once in either direction. Driveway closures last 6 to 8 hours during demolition and base preparation, and longer while concrete is formed, poured and cured. Access is maintained between demolition and the concrete pour. Large trucks turning right at the Highway 175 intersection are handled by 24-hour flaggers, who hold opposing traffic while the trucks clear. For the week of October 9 through 15, the Caltrans District 1 road bulletin listed one-way traffic control between La Franchi Road and First Street from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m., with delays of up to five minutes. The project page warns of delays of up to 10 minutes during work hours and a 25 mph limit through the work zone.

Getting to dinner while the concrete cures

Caltrans says all businesses stay open during construction. The staggered schedule works in favor of anyone heading downtown. When one side of the highway is torn up, the shoulder across the street stays open for parking, and Caltrans points drivers to more spaces near the Great Redwood Trail Agency parking area.

Posted hours from several downtown spots along the corridor:

• Café Poppy at the Thatcher Hotel, 13401 S. Highway 101, is open daily: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
• Stock Farm, 13441 S. Highway 101, is on its seasonal schedule, open Friday through Sunday from noon to 8 p.m., with to-go orders.
• Rock Seas, 13456 South Highway 101, serves dinner Tuesday through Sunday starting at 5 p.m. and closes around 9.
• Brutocao's tasting room at 13500 S. Highway 101 is open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. It welcomes walk-ins and offers free parking at Schoolhouse Plaza, which is handy while curb space is tight.

Further down the same stretch are The Golden Pig at 13380 S. Highway 101, Bluebird Cafe at 13340, Graziano Family of Wines at 13275 and McNab Ridge at 13450, all listed in the Mercury News roundup of Hopland published in February. Check their hours directly before you go.

The Great Redwood Trail Agency describes a 307-mile trail and lists the Ukiah Rail Trail among its open sections. Hopland isn't on that list, so the lot serves for parking, not as a trailhead.

Off the highway entirely, Campovida at 13601 Old River Road is running its seasonal calendar without a single traffic cone. The monthly fundraiser barn dance in the 1890 barn runs October 16 through December 12, 5 to 7 p.m., and the Thriftmas Holiday Barn Sale is open Saturdays from November 1 to 29, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Where the second installment gets discussed

Caltrans gives its monthly project updates at the advisory committee's meetings. The committee's September agenda scheduled meetings for October 21, November 18 and December 16. The November meeting falls right around the expected end of paving. Those meetings are the public venue for asking how a finished street becomes a lit, beaconed one, and when. The project also has a comment line at (707) 994-9362 and an inbox at [email protected].

A rebuilt main street changes how a downtown property works: where customers park, how a driveway meets the curb, and what still waits on the next contract. If you own along the corridor or are weighing a property near it and want to talk through how the finished frontage and the future project fit your plans, Erik Terreri is glad to walk the street with you and put together a tailored market strategy.