San Rafael, CA – To accommodate Marin County’s annual Veterans Day event in San Rafael, the Marin County Department of Public Works (DPW) will implement a detour for traffic through the Civic Center Drive Improvement Project zone on November 11.
Work will continue along Civic Center Drive through early 2017.
The Veterans Day event, presented by the Marin County United Veterans Council and sponsored by the County of Marin, will take place at the Marin Veterans Memorial Auditorium, part of the Marin County Civic Center complex where the road improvement project is underway. The event begins with music at 9:30 a.m., and the official ceremony begins at 10 a.m.
From 7 a.m. until noon that day, the Avenue of the Flags will be closed, save for emergency vehicles. The Veterans Memorial Auditorium will be accessible via the detour route to Memorial Drive. Changeable message boards and safety personnel will guide traffic along the corridor. While Avenue of the Flags will reopen after the event, it will be closed periodically for brief periods during the remainder of the construction project.
A key part of this construction project is the single-lane roundabout at the intersection of Civic Center Drive and Peter Behr Drive that will help improve safety and traffic congestion in the area. The next phase of the roundabout’s construction will begin on November 10, to be timed with the detour for Veterans Day. This will result in shifting the northbound lane of Civic Center Drive to the east side of the roundabout. That traffic pattern adjustment will require the Avenue of the Flags intersection to change from a three-way stop to a four-way stop. The Memorial Drive will remain open for access to the Veterans Memorial Auditorium from that point onward.
“The project has reached its mid-way point and, with the traffic shift to the east side of the roundabout, we’ll be seeing a lot of activity over the next few months,” said Patrick Zuroske, Capital Projects Division Manager. “We appreciate everyone’s patience and ask that all travelers use caution as they move through the corridor.”
Significant work will continue on the section of Civic Center Drive between the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) crossing and the roundabout through January 2017. The entire Civic Center Drive Improvement Project is on schedule to be completed in early 2017. DPW is asking for the public’s patience and caution while moving through the area during this timeframe.
On DPW’s website, residents can find a video that summarizes the improvement project, an animated simulation of how the roundabout will work, an overhead map of the area, an overview about the effectiveness of roundabouts from the federal government, and many other documents.