San Rafael officials are expressing reservations about emerging plans to build a connector between Highway 101 and Interstate 580.
City Council members, who received an update on the effort on Tuesday, said they are worried that the Transportation Authority Marin project could impact the city’s traffic flow.
As it stands, northbound Highway 101 drivers must use local streets in San Rafael or Sir Francis Drake Boulevard in Larkspur to get to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge by Interstate 580. The connector plan, still in the early stages of development, would link the two freeways for direct access to the bridge. Nine potential project routes are on the table, several of which could impact the city.
Anne Richman, the executive director of TAM, said the project does not propose closing the busy Sir Francis Drake Boulevard corridor, although some proposed route alternatives could impact the onramp or require reconstruction.
Bill Guerin, the city’s public works director, emphasized that future changes to the corridor and different traffic alignments could have a big effect on the city. Guerin and city consultant Barry Miller reviewed objectives for the city, including net benefit to neighborhoods, mobility, economic investment, improved safety for travelers, aesthetics, design for the future and efficiency.
Mayor Kate Colin and Vice Mayor Maribeth Bushey both said the objectives seem vague and questionable.
Bushey said if the project is about getting East Bay commuters to the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge as fast as possible, “then, it seems like there’s a broader range of options that could be thought about here.”
Colin, who has served as a TAM commissioner, said she was suspicious of the idea of a freeway project as a “nexus for recreation” and that the broader environmental impact of the project is key.
“As I step back from this, what we’re running up against is highway systems are just that,” Colin said. “They are a system in and of itself and then our local traffic is another system. And it just so happens that San Rafael, because we are the center of the world … is where those systems are butting up against each other.”
Councilmember Maika Llorens Gulati said she needs more data to understand why San Rafael is being considered as the nexus for the project.
“Show me the data, show me the numbers,” Llorens Gulati said. “I would love to understand that. If it has to come to San Rafael … we’ll make the best out of it. I think there are a lot of different alternatives you could create.”
Councilmember Rachel Kertz suggested ranking the goals by priority. City Manager Jim Schutz said that might be a challenge, and suggested following the process the city did when designing the San Rafael Transit Center by picking which concerns were most important to the community, and deciding on the details later.
The city is gathering public feedback on the project, and commenters can email the city clerk’s office at city.clerk@cityofsanrafael.org.
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San Rafael officials uneasy about I-580 connector impact - Marin Independent Journal
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