San Rafael, CA – Just in time for the winter months, three roadway projects have been completed in West Marin. The Marin County Department of Public Works (DPW) repaved five miles of Lucas Valley Road and installed two retaining walls, one on Lucas Valley Road and another on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.
The repaving of Lucas Valley Road involved Cold In-Place Recycling technology, an eco-friendly alternative to traditional paving practices.The two retaining walls were the last remaining
slide repair projects necessitated by the
intense storms of early 2017. One of the newly completed walls is located on Lucas Valley Road at mile post 9.6, about one mile from the Nicasio Valley Road intersection. The other new retaining wall is on Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at mile post 18.76 in Samuel P. Taylor State Park. Both walls are 90 feet long and were designed to reinforce their respective road, provide improved drainage and help prevent future roadway deterioration. Funding for the walls came from the County’s Road and Bridge Rehabilitation Fund and came to $1.16 million.
The two wall construction sites utilized temporary traffic signals to control traffic via single lane access. While the temporary signal at the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard site will remain active for final worksite restoration until mid-November, the control measures at the Lucas Valley Road wall are no longer in place. With the projects completed, travelers can expect normal traffic flow.
Five miles of Lucas Valley Road, from Nicasio Valley Road to Big Rock, were resurfaced and upgraded during October. In addition to new pavement, the $3 million project resulted in the widening of the roadway by up to two feet, improving safety for cyclists and drivers along the popular West Marin arterial road. Some drainage and guardrail improvements remain to be installed but are expected to take place over the next couple weeks. During installation, traffic flow may need to be periodically controlled by flaggers and drivers may experience minor delays during peak commute hours.
The repaving of Lucas Valley Road used Cold In-Place Recycling technology, an eco-friendly alternative to traditional paving practices, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent. Additionally, the process costs less than other paving methods as it uses less aggregate materials, fuel, and labor hours.
California Senate Bill 1 (SB1) funding made it possible to address the much-needed Lucas Valley Road improvements during the busy summer paving schedule. SB1, enacted in April 2017, will provide approximately $4.1 million annually to the County of Marin’s road improvement program. The boost allows DPW to address priority projects earlier than previously possible, thereby saving money in the long term by avoiding further roadway deterioration that would require more expensive repair projects.
Improving the conditions of roadways across unincorporated areas of Marin is an ongoing commitment for the County. In 2014, the Board of Supervisors initiated a $48 million, six-year plan called the Road and Bridge Rehabilitation Program. Under the initiative, DPW is working toward resurfacing 31 percent of its most-used roads before 2020.
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