San Rafael, CA – Between December 2016 and February 2017, Marin County was hit with a series of intense storms, making it one of the wettest rain seasons of the past decade. Creek flooding and heavily saturated soil across unincorporated areas of the county resulted in $8.76 million in damage, including 11 road slides that accounted for approximately $4.15 million. The Marin County Department of Public Works (DPW) is in the process of repairing those slides in preparation for this year’s rain season.
Slide repairs underway on Lucas Valley RoadWhile the 11 repair projects initially must be funded by the County, federal reimbursement is being sought. DPW engineers have worked with the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to assess each project’s potential for reimbursement. Three of the projects have been preliminarily approved by FHWA and eventually should see a total reimbursement of $2.3 million, which would cover the estimated cost of the projects. The other eight projects, which carry an estimated cost of $1.85 million, are being reviewed by FEMA to determine how much it will reimburse.
“The reimbursement process is a long road, which is not conducive with our need to get the slides repaired in a timely manner,” said Ernest Klock, DPW Principal Civil Engineer. “For public safety reasons, the County allocates the funding up front to expedite the work. Our aim is that once the reimbursements are secured, the net financial impact to the County will be minimized.”
The County has completed one of the three slide repairs that are likely to be covered by FHWA funds. A section of Lucas Valley Road near Nicasio Valley Road, a major artery between West Marin and the densely populated Highway 101 corridor, had suffered a downhill slide that took out one of its two lanes. It now has both lanes operational and reinforced at a cost of $1,182,500.
Of the eight sites under consideration for FEMA reimbursement, five have been completed in the past six months: Goodhill Road in Kentfield, Bay Road in Tamalpais Valley, Richardson Way in Mill Valley, Conifer Way in San Geronimo, and Forest Drive in Forest Knolls. Those projects came to a total of $900,000.
Two other projects earmarked for FHWA reimbursement, Los Ranchitos Road in San Rafael and Sir Francis Drake Boulevard at Baywood Canyon, are in the design phase. The potential FEMA-reimbursed repairs for slide sites on Barranca Road in San Geronimo, Red Rock Way in San Rafael, and Lucas Valley Road near mile marker 9.63 in West Marin are going through design review as well. All of those projects are on target to be completed by this fall.
For additional information on a range of projects, visit DPW's website. For immediate updates, alerts and news, visit DPW’s Twitter and Facebook pages.