Petition for Safe and Separate Pedestrian and Bicycle Routes in Marinwood/Lucas Valley and Smith Ranch Road to McInnis Park

The Marin County Board of Supervisors will allocate an Additional approximate $7.5 million from the Non-Motorized Pilot Program (NTPP)funds in early 2011. The undersigned request that a portion of these funds be allocated to study and build safe and separate bicycle and pedestrian accommodations in the Marinwood/Lucas Valley area as follows:

1. $15,000 for the County to do a pedestrian and bicycle plan for the unincorporated Marinwood/ Lucas Valley area. (This has never been done before!)

2. $­­­100,000 of the NTPP funds be used to study safe and separate bicycle and pedestrian accommodations along Smith Ranch Road and Lucas Valley Road from McInnis Park to the Marinwood Community Center. This includes the area of concern of the Safe Passage LV Road committee. This project is an incredibly important to the Safe Routes to Schools program, and it connects Marinwood/Lucas Valley and all North San Rafael neighborhoods with McInnis Park.

3. Fund the final designing and the building of the community’s preferred alternative for safe and separate accommodation on Miller Creek Road from Marinwood Avenue to Las Gallinas Avenue. This section of the primary North/South bike & pedestrian route that runs through Marinwood is in the middle of a NTPP planning study. Funds from the pilot program extension are needed to bring our community based “complete street” vision to reality.

Detailed Explanation<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

1. Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan

The County updates its Pedestrian and Bicycle Plan every five years. But, the County has never done a pedestrian and bicycle plan for Marinwood/ <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />LucasValley. This funding request would develop a plan by which to make our neighborhoods safe to walk and bicycle in. Unincorporated Northern San Rafael includes the key sections of the North South Bikeway in Marinwood/ LucasValley areas. The jurisdiction for this pedestrian and bicycle plan is the County.

2. This Lucas Valley Road/ Smith Ranch Road Connector Project would study the safest pedestrian and bicycle accommodation starting at McInnis Park and heading west on Smith Ranch Rd to the 101 interchange. The Study would continue on Lucas Valley Rd to Las Gallinas Ave once past the 101 interchange.

Included in the Study would be a separated multiuse pathway that starts at Miller Creek Rd and Quietwood Dr (and which connects with the trail heading east to Las Gallinas Ave) and heads south on the east side of Miller Creek Rd to Lucas Valley Rd. The path would cross Lucas Valley Rd with a high visibility crosswalk. A spur of the path would then cross Miller Creek Rd and connect with Canyon Oak Dr and the path on old Lucas Valley Rd. (A suggestion has been made to use the bridge in San Rafael that goes over Mahon Creek at Second Street that is being replaced there.) The primary path for the Study would stay on the south side of Lucas Valley Rd past Las Gallinas Ave to Los Gamos Rd and Lucas Valley Rd. The path would then head south on the trail behind the parking lots on Los Gamos Rd to the YMCA.

For the sections of the Study on Smith Ranch Road and Lucas Valley Road the Study would provide three alternatives.

i. Sidewalks and Class II bike lanes on each side of the road.

ii. Sidewalks and one-way bike lanes on each side of road, Caltrans 1003.1(1) and Figure 1003.1A.

iii. Multipurpose Trails on each side of road, Caltrans 1003.5;

or a combination of these in various segments where continuous treatment is not feasible.

This segment is a key connector of the North South Bikeway (at Lucas Valley Rd/ Las Gallinas Ave) and the North South Greenway (at McInnisPark).

This segment is a key Safe Routes to School project for all students on the east side of 101 on Smith Ranch Road attending Miller Creek Middle School,Mary SilveiraSchool, Dixie School,and TL High.

This segment would provide a key non motorized access to McInnisPark. The Lucas Valley Road/ Smith Ranch Road Connector would specifically include the section of the Lucas Valley Pathway on the south side of Lucas Valley Rd from Las Gallinas Ave to Los Gamos Rd and Los Gamos Rd to the YMCA, in particular studying, paving, and widening the pathway behind the parking lots on the west side of Los Gamos Rd to the YMCA. This segment is described in the County and the San Rafael Bike and Pestrian Plans. The jurisdictions for this Study include County, San Rafael, and Caltrans.

3. Miller Creek Road from Marinwood Avenue to Las Gallinas Avenue Improvements

This segment runs from “IJ Bike Path” at Marinwood Ave and Miller Creek Rd, west on Miller Creek Rd to Las Gallinas Ave. This segment is being studied as part of the Pilot Program.

When the Marinwood North South Bikeway Study segment is completed, the community’s Preferred Alternative, which provides auto separated bicycle and pedestrian accommodation on Miller Creek Rd from Marinwood Ave to Las Gallinas Ave, would finalize design and be built. The jurisdictions for this segment are the County, and San Rafael.

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