San Rafael, CA – The Marin County Department of Public Works (DPW) has been planning to rehabilitate 2.5 miles of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard between Highway 101 and the Town of Ross. The final environmental impact report (EIR) for the proposed project will be presented at the Marin County Board of Supervisors session on May 8 at the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael. The public is encouraged to attend the presentation. Pending the Board’s approval of the final EIR, the project will move into the design phase.
The heavily used Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, between the Town of Ross and Highway 101, is prone to traffic congestion. The proposed rehabilitation project seeks to alleviate the issue as well as make other significant improvements. The
Sir Francis Drake Boulevard Rehabilitation Project consists of various potential physical modifications to the corridor.Aside from repaving the entire roadway, the proposed project addresses traffic congestion, intersection configurations, community safety concerns, accessibility improvements, and optimizing the movement of vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists along the corridor. The final EIR,
which can be viewed online, looks at possible environmental implications of several potential ways of achieving the overall project goals.
DPW began initial planning of the project in 2014 with background research, preliminary analysis, and the implementation of a robust public outreach process. Five large-scale community meetings were held between May 2015 and January 2018, as well as two public walking tours of the corridor in January 2016. The draft EIR was released for public comment in October 2017. The collected public input was addressed in the subsequent final EIR and would be adopted as an amendment to the final EIR should the document be approved by the Board on May 8.
Events and milestone documents were announced on the project website and sent to subscription lists, as well as to the media and community associations. Various stakeholder groups were involved during the entire EIR process such as the Community Advisory Committee (CAC) and the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC). The CAC is comprised of local business landowners, homeowner associations, and school associations. The TAC is made up of representatives from towns, cities, public service agencies, law and fire agencies, and utilities organizations. Those stakeholder groups will remain involved during the potential future project’s design and construction.
The Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) has allocated $13.2 million for the potential project from its Major Roads Project Fund. The funds come from the Measure A transportation sales tax, which passed in 2004. Sir Francis Drake Boulevard was one of the major roads identified as needing extensive rehabilitation in the Measure A Expenditure Plan in 2006. Additionally, a $340,000 grant from TAM has been secured strictly for traffic signal improvements.
Actual project costs will depend on the determination of the final EIR and the subsequent design of the project. The estimated timeline for the proposed rehabilitation project separates the construction into two phases, the first in spring/summer 2019 and the second in spring/summer 2020.
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