7/7/2023 0 Comments Marin county traffic schools“It’s a line-of-sight issue,” says Bill Whitney, TAM principal project delivery manager. Ramp metering needs to be installed, but most pressingly, there’s a curved retaining wall at the eastern edge of the bridge that needs to be moved. Why not open the lane now? It’s not that simple (actually, nothing traffic-related is simple). Planners expect that the improvements, slated for completion in August 2017, will substantially reduce delays, often even to zero. The centerpiece of the $74 million project is a plan to convert the shoulder of the lower, eastbound deck to a third lane during peak afternoon hours, as well as build a bike/ pedestrian path on the upper deck. The good news is that a lot of smart people are working to fix the problems, and they’re moving quickly (by transportation standards) on a variety of solutions, the most significant being a new, third lane on the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge. But 12 percent of our traffic, according to TAM, is “pass-through”: East Bay commuters trying to avoid the Bay Bridge by driving to San Francisco via Marin. Many of these drivers are the grocery tellers, gas station employees and restaurant servers who can’t afford to live in Marin’s high-cost housing. Marin also has considerable traffic from the East Bay and Sonoma. In fact, the city has 3,000 more registered cars than it has driving age residents. In Mill Valley alone, building permits have jumped from 745 in 2010 to 1,154 in 2014, the latest year for which statistics are available - one of the many reasons East Blithedale is a sea of red brake lights.Īnother key reason, however, is this: though Mill Valley’s roads were designed for six vehicle trips per day per household, the average household now generates more than 11. It’s not just high-paid tech execs clogging the roads, though it’s also the nannies, gardeners and contractors they employ (not to mention the countless Amazon deliveries). “San Francisco has once again become a vibrant, global business capital,” he says, “which means there’s going to be more southbound traffic in the morning and northbound at night.” Robert Eyler, Ph.D., director of the Center for Regional Economic Analysis at Sonoma State University, agrees. “We’re experiencing a very healthy economy right now, which means more jobs and more traveling.” What’s going on? “The simplest answer is, ‘It’s the economy, stupid,’ ” says Dianne Steinhauser, executive director of the Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM). Sir Francis Drake, one of the county’s most congested corridors, is a perennial parking lot. Trips that used to take 8 minutes, 57 seconds during the morning commute along Tiburon Boulevard in 2012 now take 14 minutes, 3 seconds. And Richmond–San Rafael Bridge traffic has jumped from 12.2 million (westbound only) in 2011 to nearly 14.5 million vehicles in 2015. Golden Gate Bridge traffic has jumped from 38 million vehicles in 2011 to more than 40 million in 2015. Traffic has risen 5 percent along Highway 101 in the past 10 years and 18 percent along Highway 37. It’s not an imagined problem congestion has gotten worse in Marin. One friend even suggested that we start a special Twitter hashtag for Marin, #traf-ked, which seemed to sum things up. They also offered theories on why, ranging from the county’s population growth (not correct) to whispers that people from the East Bay were driving over and parking at the Larkspur Ferry Terminal in the dark to go to San Francisco (possibly). WHEN I GRIPED about the trip to friends afterward, floodgates opened: everyone wanted to talk about how bad traffic was in Marin. And then it took me another full hour to reach Oakland. But traffic along 580 was so congested it took me an hour and 15 minutes just to reach the Richmond–San Rafael Bridge. Because it was mid-afternoon, I thought I’d given myself plenty of time. appointment near Oakland’s Caldecott Tunnel. Everyone in Marin has an awful traffic story and here is mine: one Thursday afternoon in January, I left downtown San Rafael at 2:45 p.m.
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