Pumpkin patch traffic slowing you down?
Traffic backs up on Highway 101 as motorists catch a glimpse of the Petaluma Pumpkin Patch
By JOELLE BURNETTE
ROHNERT PARK CORRESPONDENT
If you drive south from Rohnert Park on Highway 101 in October, likely you’ll get stuck in traffic as vehicles crawl over the Cotati grade until you pass through the northern border of Petaluma. More specifically, until you pass by the Petaluma Pumpkin Patch.
As soon as corn and pumpkins sprout, the traffic begins to slow
Sandwiched between Highway 101 and Stony Point Road, the pumpkin patch can be seen from both roadways. As soon as corn and pumpkins begin sprouting in September and October, drivers tend to get caught behind rubbernecking motorists as they slow down while passing by the patch. Some residents have named the phenomenon, “pumpkin patch traffic.”
The taller the corn stalks and the bigger the pumpkins, the slower the traffic moves along.
Add several pumpkin hunters out in the field and more people climbing on the hay stack pyramid, and the traffic nearly comes to a stop. That is, until they drive past the corn field, traffic opens up and cars accelerate to more customary speeds.
Vehicles trying to avoid traffic on south 101 back up on Stony Point Road near the pumpkin patch
Have you been caught in the pumpkin patch traffic? Have you been in or seen a traffic accident because of the stop-and-go traffic pattern? Does that traffic add to your commuting woes until you let out a Halloween scream? Many drivers avoid the highway as long as they can, taking side roads such as Stony Point, but even Stony Point backs up near the patch.
It’s one thing to have a successful business that can boast location, location, location. But when does that business become a public nuisance and a catalyst for dangerous driving conditions?
Tell your traffic stories and thoughts in the comments below. What is your secret route when traveling south?
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I am fortunate in that I don’t commute down 101. However, I have always felt that the Pumpkin Patch was something that enhanced the Sonoma County experience, rather than detracted from it. Traffic needn’t be the deciding factor. Let’s remember that we’re humans, and can learn patience. Cars are not in control of us; we are in control of them. More adults, please.
At best, the Pumpkin patch is a public nuisance; at worst it’s a serious threat to public safety.
There have already been numerous injury accidents caused by this roadside distraction. How long before there is a fatality? This is not to mention the hours of productivity lost from people stuck in insufferable gridlock and the pollution from idling cars and trucks.
The owner of the pumpkin patch is lying when he says he wishes that people wouldn’t slow down to gawk at his property and that there’s nothing he can do. He is clearly profiting from making his roadside spectacle as visible as possible. He’s also profiting from all the (free) media attention it’s drawn.
Solutions: put up a temporary screen; plant fast-growing poplar trees as a permanent screen; move the signs and the hay bales to the Northwest side of the property where they’re less visible from the freeway and more visible on Stoney Point. Do something!
I wish one of our elected officials would step in to help solve this problem. It’s not a novelty. It’s a serious public safety issue.
I hate the pumpkin patch!!! It just becomes another yearly traffic problem! They don’t even grow pumpkins there any more!
I remember a hairy accident caused by slow traffic (read: gawkers) in the Fall of 2003. A motorcyclist, splitting the lanes in the crawl caused by the PP, hit a Porsche Boxster. Not pretty. He survived, but it was ugly. Completely flipped over the car, and splatted on the asphalt in front of me. Thank God for full leathers and a helmet……
Since that 2003 incident, I have skirted the issue in the Fall, using Pet Hill Road into Penngrove, and then jumping onto 101 south of the PP. A much nicer, less stressful alternative…..
Seriously? So you’re telling me that one accident happened in the past 20 years that the pumpkin patch has been in business? And it just happened to be near the patch so you assume it is their fault? Really?
As for the Stony Point traffic, there is never traffic slowed down there. I think the picture of the Stony Point traffic that is on here was taken on the day the gas spill happened…please!!! I drive both roads a lot and even when there is just dirt there, the only time there is slowed traffic is during normal commute traffic. The same as when there is corn and pumpkins.
I visited the pumpkin patch this year and guess what? The traffic was moving just fine. In fact going faster than the northbound traffic! I think the problem is that there are two on ramps right after the patch where cars are getting on the freeway during the commute traffic that causes the back up and the pumpkin patch just gets blamed for it.
They have every right to have a business there. The community and so many families outside of Petaluma benefit from their business, including mine. My kids love it there and have fun every year!
I don’t think it is fair to say they are a hazard and and a distraction to drivers….there are plenty distractions along the roads everywhere.
Just the other day I was on 101 stopped in traffic near the pumpkin patch…guess what was stopping the traffic? NOT the pumpkin patch…a street sweeper cleaning up the construction zone (which happens to be in front of the patch this year)!!!!! The traffic picked back up BEFORE the pumpkin patch!!! Shocking!
It is really more annoying to constantly hear all the pissed off people whine about the traffic!
GET OVER IT PEOPLE!!!