Southern Marin Unincorporated Area Non-Motorized Travel Vision Plan

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1 Southern Marin Unincorporated Area Non-Motorized Travel Vision Plan Executive Summary Tamalpias Valley, Homestead Valley, Almonte, Strawberry and Muir Woods Park are all part of the unincorporated area of southern Marin. The Non-Motorized Traffic Vision Plan (Plan) presents these community s vision for a safe and enjoyable way for community members to ride bikes and walk to schools, work, recreation and transit stops in the unincorporated area of southern Marn. This Plan will increase the overall health of our community, decrease our ecological footprint, and enable us to better respond in catastrophic emergencies by enabling different modes of access. It will allow our children to walk and bike safely to school and enable young and old to access recreational facilities, workplaces, and shopping by walking and by bike. Goals for the Communities This Plan covers the following goals for our community: CREATE SAFER STREETS FOR WALKING AND BIKING. By surveying walkers and bikers in the community, we identified several challenges to using these modes of transportation such as the lack of curb cuts and stop signs, the overgrowth of plants as well as mailboxes protruding into walking and biking right of way and the unregulated parking on and along sidewalks and shoulders. INCLUDE SPECIAL FOCUS ON SAFE AND SEPARATE PEDESTRIAN AND BICYCLE ACCOMMODATIONS. Many publicly owned areas are available for shortcuts or cut through routes where vehicles can not or should not go. Signed routes are needed to identify these safe and separate areas. ENABLE ALTERNATIVE ACCESS IN CASE OF CATASTROPHIC EMERGENCIES. Emergency vehicles can utilize bike and pedestrian paths when normal access roads or highways are blocked. Pedestrians can utilize Steps, Lanes and Paths for safe access down the mountain in the event of fire. Maintenance of these areas is necessary for continuous and safe access. HANDLING AND DEALING WITH THE LOCK DOWN THAT OCCURS WHEN PARKED TRAFFIC BLOCKS A WALKING OR BICYCLING ROUTE. The need is for safe and separate pedestrian and bicycling accommodations for the communities. CONTROL TRAFFIC VOLUME. Morning, afternoon and weekend traffic on Shoreline Highway through Tam Valley has been an issue for years. We ve looked at causes and have looked at the use of crosswalks, stop lights and traffic calming measures. SLOW DOWN EXISTING TRAFFIC. Speed becomes an increasingly urgent issue around bicyclists and pedestrians. Bicycle accidents at each intersection through Tam Valley have been reported every year since We examined ways to reduce the speed through creative solutions based on international best and most elegant practices.

2 MAKE THE SOUTHERN MARIN UNINCORPORATED AREA ATTRACTIVE AND A MODEL FOR NON-MOTORIZED BEST PRACTICES. Being a condensed area with a variety of terrain the Southern Marin Unincorporated area offers a unique opportunity to implement best international practices for non-motorized traffic, traffic calming and to measure how improvements increase bicycle and pedestrian traffic, We hope that our county representatives will champion this Plan and carry it through the multitude of county and state agencies to make it a reality. Introduction Safe Routes to School of Tam Valley has initiated the desire to develop a Pedestrian and Bicycling Master Plan and has formed a committee by contacting representatives from each unincorporated area in southern Marin. Each community has a vision to integrate their off road paths to crosswalks, bike lanes, sidewalks and calm streets due to low motorized traffic volume or traffic calming measures. Areas with easements are envisioned to be Steps Lanes and Paths leading down to shopping, schools, parks in an effort to reduce congestion and promote healthy habits as well as provide alternate routes during emergency evacuations. Unlike the city of Mill Valley, Tam Valley, Homestead, Almonte and Strawberry, all densely populated, have lacked specific agencies representing their interest. Muir Woods Park as well, however not as densely populated. Tam Valley Elementary School has roughly 400 students who live mostly in the area of Almonte and Tam Valley. Our Plan begins in Tam Valley and branches out to Almonte and Homestead and Strawberry. Our Plan covers the Steps Lanes and Paths linking to on road bike lanes and sidewalks to Muir Woods Park and all over other parts of the unincorporated area. The Southern Marin Unincorporated Areas mentioned in this plan will link to the incorporated areas of Sausalito, Mill Valley and Tiburon. Safe non-motorized travel between each jurisdiction is planned to be seamless. Our committee is composed of area residents, merchants and parents of children who attend Tam Valley School, representatives of the Tam Valley Service District (TCSD) and other committees formed from each area of Tam Valley, Homestead, Almonte and Muir Woods Park. The committee chair is Lex Campbell, Information about the committees work is available on line at With this Plan, we create human accessible ways to reach local destinations, promote better health for community members, and reduce our ecological footprint, while creating alternative routes that could be used during catastrophic emergencies. Priorities have been established in each community. NOTES: Almonte and Homestead has a network of Steps, Lanes and Paths that have been identified and studied. Funding will insure maintenance and use. (All of this to be inserted with definition of SL&P as well as the actual study and other history.) Contact Sharon Rushton, sharon@irtenkauf.com

3 Homestead Valley Contact Dr. Jerry Freedman at for information on hiking paths in the area that may be identified as Steps Lanes and Paths. In order to improve safety leading to the Horizon School, top priority is the need for a path along Evergreen. Contact Ross Hamar, rhamar@marinhorizon.org, x 225. Muir Woods Park is the entrance to the Redwood park area know all over the world. Refer to the community plan done earlier and the recent GNRA meetings. Strawberry. Refer to the Community Plan and talk to Safe Routes Team Leader for Strawberry School, Betsy Bowden bowdenbetsy@mac.com The first section of this Plan will focus in the area of Tam Valley, starting from the Tam Valley Elementary School. The Safe Routes to School Team Leader contact there is Kathy McLeod, kmcleod@mcleodfx.com Bell Lane Bell Lane is a narrow street that leads to the entrance to the Tam Valley School, the only public school in the Southern Marin Unincorporated area. The school is situated in a canyon at the end of the valley. Two main roads, Marin Ave and Flamingo, funnel into Bell Lane. The goal for our children to walk and ride bikes safely to school is to have sidewalks with curb cuts, bike lanes and traffic moving slow enough during school hours that pedestrians and cyclist take priority over time saved with speed. A bike lane or fog stripe is needed on the west side of Bell Lanes in order to show motorists where to expect cyclists. Share the road stencils are needed after Enterprise Concourse to offer the right of way to bicyclist merging to the center divider located on the school property. Pedestrians use the sidewalk on the east side of Bell Lane. An eight foot wide sidewalk is needed from Enterprise Concourse to the entrance of the school Many children ride scooters or bikes with training wheels. These children remain on the sidewalk the entire length of their travel to school along Marin Ave and Flamingo. Congestion for pedestrians and cyclists is greatest after Enterprise Concourse. This is another reason a clear marking in the road is needed for cyclists who use the road.

4 Safe Routes to School at Tam Valley Elementary has worked with the Tam Valley Service District to allow parking for parents at the Tam Valley Community Center parking lot, one block from the entrance of the school. The children are dropped off or parents walk in with their children along Enterprise Concourse and use the sidewalk on the east side of Bell Lane the last block to the school. Parking along Bell Lane is prohibited on the south side. In one section Enforcement is needed consistently every year. Marin Avenue Sidewalk construction from Tam Valley School to Green Glen has been allocated. The sidewalk needs to continue to Maple to link residents in the entire northern part of the valley. The south side of Marin Ave has no shoulder and the morning sun blinds residence who drive to school putting road cyclist in danger. A bike lane is needed all the way down Marin Ave up to Enterprise Concourse on Bell Lane. This photo shows the road from Green Glen looking toward Maple. Parked cars block pedestrians along the way. The sidewalk ends at Green Glen. Picture of Marin Ave across from the boadwalk goes here

5 Flamingo Flamingo runs between Shoreline Highway and Marin Avenue. The local grocery store and shopping center are at the corner of Flamingo and Shoreline. Tam Valley School is located two blocks from the south end of Flamingo. The road has sidewalks but needs curb cuts on side streets such as Robin and going over the bridge at Coyote Creek. There are no stop signs at the side streets but residents still slow down at intersections. Residence have talked about the possiblilty of traffic circle at Robin and Flamingo in order to help slow traffic coming over the bridge. Robin and Flamingo is an especially large intersection which is dangerous for cyclist turning left off of Flamingo onto Robin. Picture of Flamingo at the bridge. Picture of the lack of curb cuts. Shoreline Highway Shoreline Hwy runs through the middle of this densely populated community, Tam Valley. Over Half of the community live on the northeast side of Shoreline which separates residents from Tam Valley School, a shopping center, transit stops, a transit hub, parks, paths, a beach and opens space recreation areas. Likewise, the south side is separated from Mill Valley, Tam High, the Middle School, the Community Center, the banks and post office. So many trips could be used by bike if it was safe to cross Shoreline.

6 Shoreline Hwy is of number one concern in Tam Valley. It is the most direct routes for cyclists going east and west and for pedestrians crossings north and south. Four pedestrian and bike accidents involving cars have occurred in the last 18 months. People have trouble crossing in a car, walking or biking on or along Shoreline. The following intersections are marked with a thumb tack in the map below. 1. Gibson / Flamingo / Shoreline 2. Dolan / Shoreline 3. Tennessee Ave / Shoreline 4. Pine Hill / Shoreline 5. Laural / Shoreline (no thumb tack here) 6. Maple / Northern / Shoreline 7. Loring / Shoreline

7 Gibson / Flamingo / Shoreline Concerns: Cars turning into shopping center cause confusion for pedestrians and cyclist. Pedestrians crossing to and from Gibson to Flamingo have to watch for left tuning vehicles. Cyclists have little room on the north side of the road, yet have a wide path on the South side. Cyclist trying to get into the neighborhood on the south side of Shoreline do so by trying to merge through this intersection or try to merge through traffic to turn left. If cyclist continue straight on Shoreline they must ride in the road with continuous speeding traffic and no shoulder around blind curves. Parents want children to use the wide shoulder on the south side of Shoreline but it is not safe to cross Shoreline at Flamingo or Gibson in order to get to the shoulder. There are no curb cuts at the end of Flamingo where people use strollers and bikes coming from Gibson to get to school. There are curb cuts along Flamingo all the way to the school EXCEPT at Robin and going over the bridge. This break in curb cuts deters many parents from allowing their children to ride this route, which is the most direct route for all residents coming from Gibson and Dolan. The photo below is taken from the second driveway into the shopping center off of Flamingo. In the distance you see Gibson on the north side of Shoreline.

8 Dolan / Shoreline Concerns: Dolan is directly across the Hwy from a heavily used path which takes the most direct route to Tam Valley School along the creek. The blind corner at Dolan makes a crosswalk unsafe therefore forcing walkers and bikers to go up to Gibson. Walking or biking along Shoreline from Dolan up to the shopping center or Gibson on the north side of Shoreline is dangerous due to the narrow shoulder or cars parked blocking any room on the shoulder. Dolan is seen in the photo on the right. Directly across Shoreline you see the path that leads to the creek, which leads to the school. The photo on the left is looking from the path on the south side of Shoreline. Notice the narrow shoulder on the north side. This photo shows the path along the creek that is the most direct routes to Tam Valley School from Dolan. However, crossing at Dolan to get to the path is very dangerous.

9 Tennessee Ave / Shoreline Concerns: Fast moving traffic with no break to cross in either direction. Many children trying to walk and bike to school. Cars are unable to turn left to leave in the morning so they park on the south side and run back and forth across Shoreline. Cars parked on the shoulder block cyclist and pedestrians. This is a no parking area but people still park there. A 49 year old woman trying to cross from the south side of Shoreline was hit by a 75 year old woman whose car ran off the road. The pedestrian was severely injured Sat. 01/28/06 at 7pm. This photo shows people crossing at Tennessee Ave. This is not in the SWITRS graph below. Many cycling accidents in the report are due to cycling against traffic.

10 Cross street Date Time Direction of Bike Direction of Car Age and Sex Age and Sex of Driver Extent of Injury Side of Hwy Prime factor Laurel Wy Sat. 11/04/00 10:10am West, wrong way North, rt turn F, 14 M, 36 Severe South R-O-W Auto Pine Hill Sat. 12/30/00 9:30am West wrong way West M, 14 M, 31 No info North R-O-W Auto Laurel Av Sun. 06/03/01 4:45pm East Right Turn, Southeast M, 30 M, 62 OTH Vis South Improp Turn Pine Hill Wed. 08/01/01 11:50pm West North M, 18 M, 47 OTH Vis North Unsafe Speed Rt 101 Wed. 04/24/02 11:00am North North made unsafe turn M, 42 M, 42 Comp Pain North Drvr Alco / drugs Almon te Dr. Sat. 09/21/02 10:10am South South M, 34 F, 34 Comp Pain North Improp Turn Ross Sun. 09/03/06 6:17pm South North M, 52 M, 38 OTH Vis South R-O-W Auto Almon te Dr. Sun. 12/03/06 1:15pm South North left turn M, 35 F, 36 OTH Vis North R-O-W Auto Pine St. Mon. 01/22/07 North South Right Turn M, 13 F, 46 Comp Pain South R-O-W Auto Report: Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS). The distance and time is between Shoreline Hwy from 101 to Maple between 2000 and 2007 showing only bicycle accidents.

11 Laurel / Shoreline Concerns: The 7/11, an apartment complex and pedestrians and cyclist are all on the South side of the Hwy. Many cyclist use Shoreline to ride bikes to the 7/11 or to go further through the valley to their destination. They ride against the traffic because there is a very wide shoulder but there is no shoulder on the other side of the road. Many cyclists have been hit at this intersection as they travel the wrong side of the road against the flow of traffic. The shoulder that is being used as a two way bike path is full of roots. Road cyclist only take the road so they are also at risk as there is very little room with traffic trying to get around them. A Steps Lanes and Paths route can be identified across from the bus stop at Laural. This is a TCSD sewer right of way that we would like to see used as a path all the way past Morning Sun to the top of Dolan. PG&E telephone poles, trees and brush are in the way all along the only place for walking or for children to bike along Shoreline. This pole is near Laural, the 7/11 and the bus stop. Shrubs should be cut back. The pole should be relocated. Tree roots obstruct many cyclists from staying on the wide shoulder, so they ride in the road. The roots need to be cut and the shoulder repaved.

12 Pine Hill / Shoreline Concerns: Fast moving traffic along the flat straight section of Shoreline. Main cross street in the middle of the community with children trying to walk to school. Has an existing crosswalk with a paddle leading to no sidewalk or curb cut and the crosswalk does not have stripes for visibility. (Pictures to come later) Maple / Northern / Shoreline Concerns: Just before the next big curve there are two roads to turn left onto. Maple and Northern. As the road begins to go up the mountain cars going to Northern turn left without stopping or slowing. They veer onto Northern. Maple is a sharper left therefore cars stop and wait for traffic. Pedestrians and cyclist risk being hit by a car veering onto Northern while a car is coming up to Shoreline on Maple. Cars coming from Northern trying to turn left onto Shoreline at the same time as cars are coming from Maple to Shoreline causes a jam in the middle of the intersection and backs up cars along Shoreline. The intersections is utterly confusing. This photo shows how cars come out from Northern to go onto Shoreline. (The black SUV) There is another car driving on Maple to go to Shoreline and at the same instance another car coming off Shoreline to go onto Maple or go up Northern. Utter chaos for pedestrians and cyclists.

13 Loring / Shoreline Concerns: The last road with direct routes to school across Shoreline as it cuts through the community. The road is on a corner and the south side of Shoreline has very little shoulder for walking or biking however the road to cut over off of Shoreline to the main route to school is only a block away. Mt. Tam School is up Loring. There are more TCSD sewer easements for shortcuts to Shoreline from Loring. (Pictures to come later) Picture here.

14 Shoreline Phase ll The Unincorporated area Master Plan includes the suggestions of the Tam Valley Mini Loop. The route of the loop starts at the crosswalk on Almonte that goes to the North South Greenway. It goes over Almonte (County jurisdiction) using bike lanes. As it reaches the intersection of Shoreline and Almonte the bike lane ends yet the shoulder continues to be wide enough to accommodate parked cars on one side and telephone poles on the other side. We are recommending that these spaces be used for a bike lane along Shoreline going all the way past the Manzanita Transit Station and linking back onto the North South Greenway. Concerns: Busy intersection and most direct route to Mill Valley from Tam Valley Is an intersection for one of the most popular bike routes in the world for both recreation and commutes to the city of San Francisco from Marin County. The intersection is outdated and due for new configurations to bring it up to standards of Best International Practices for roadway design. Sidewalks are blocked by telephone poles. Sidewalks are blocking the bike lane and are placed where people aren t walking or are not being used. Flooding occurs and blocks the bike lane or what would be a bike lane. A woman tries to navigate where to walk just past the intersection of Amonte and Shoreline.

15 A telephone pole blocks the shoulder where pedestrians would be. The broken pavement and water blocks cyclists. This particular location is just after the bike lane ends on Almonte as it comes up to the intersection at Shoreline. This is where the bike lane would go. (Same location from further back) Directly across the street Martin Brothers parking lot also floods. Martin Brothers is planning on paving the parking lot all the way up to the CalTrans right of way seen in this picture.

16 Looking toward the intersection. Looking away from the intersection. Along the marsh side of Shoreline telephone poles should be moved back to allow more room for a bike lane for a sidewalk and bikelane. On the Shopping center side there is also room for a bike lane. Currently cars are parked there. This route needs to lead over the bridge, around the corner past the Manzanita Transit Center and back onto the North South Greenway.