A Shore Thing or a Broken Promise? Caltrans to Omit Long-Planned Improvement in Tam Valley
Marin’s Best Known Highway
Route 1 in Marin is one of the most iconic roads in the state. However, in addition to its dramatic views of the Pacific, Bolinas Lagoon, and Tomales Bay, Route 1 also serves as the main street to several of Marin’s unincorporated towns. Immediately after splitting from US-101, Shoreline Highway (as Route 1 is also known) runs through Tam Junction, the busy commercial center of Tam Valley.
Despite the central role Route 1 plays here, and in other towns in Marin, it’s built almost entirely for cars. Sidewalks are mostly absent, and where bike lanes exist, they’re separated from fast-moving traffic by paint only, which is cold comfort for a parent trying to stop by Good Earth after picking their kid up from school by bicycle.
State of Play
Though it runs through unincorporated Marin County, Route 1 is not managed by our county’s Department of Public Works but rather by the state Department of Transportation, Caltrans. While Caltrans has historically looked at its roads primarily through the lens of automobile congestion, the agency has shown signs of moving in a more progressive direction in recent years.
There have been positive examples here in Marin. Tiburon Boulevard (State Route 131) is in the early stages of being repaved by Caltrans, a project that will incorporate a separated bikeway between US-101 and Blackie’s Pasture (learn more here). Or take the example of Tamalpais Drive in Corte Madera, where, with some cajoling and extra money from the state, Caltrans agreed to rebuild a 1950s-era interchange with a modern bike/pedestrian pathway rather than merely painted bike lanes (details here).
With those examples in mind, we were excited to learn that Caltrans plans a repaving of Route 1 between Manzanita and Stinson Beach and eager to see what improvements to this road might be planned. In particular, there is much room for improvement in the Tam Junction/Tam Valley stretch of road, where Route 1 acts as a community main street. This segment of the road is very hostile for people traveling outside of a car. It has intermittent painted bike lanes (with a speed limit of 35 mph, deterring all but the most confident riders) and only one short bit of sidewalk in front of Good Earth.
A Plan, If You Can Keep It
Happily, Caltrans recognized some of these needs in its visionary 2018 Bay Area Bike Plan, in which it recommended a shared use (aka a “Class 1”) path along Route 1 between the intersection of Rt 1/Northern Avenue/Maple Street and Rt 1/Almonte Boulevard as one of the “top tier” priority projects in Marin County. This repaving project would be the perfect time to implement such a recommendation, right?
Wrong. Despite calling the Tam Valley Class 1 path a “top tier” priority project, Caltrans does not plan to implement it as part of this project. And if it doesn’t get built when Caltrans is working on the road this time around, it’s frankly not going to happen for another generation.
Why is Caltrans leaving this critical element out of their project? We’re not sure, actually!
No-Scoping
When initiating a project, Caltrans staff are supposed to review prior planning documents and at least consider incorporating those recommendations. When this review happened in 2021, the Tam Valley Class 1 path (a “top tier” priority project!) was not even mentioned, even though that recommendation came from a Caltrans plan!
Class (1) Dismissed
The next project document, produced in 2023, at least mentions the recommendation of a Class 1 path, but bats it aside with a one-sentence dismissal. According to a brief aside, the fact that the path would be “well outside the roadway footprint” means that it will not be included in this project.
Unfortunately, this excuse rings hollow, as the project already includes work well outside the roadway footprint. Over the hill from Tam Valley in Muir Beach, Caltrans plans to construct a sidewalk along Route 1 between Pacific Way (the road to The Pelican Inn and the Muir Beach parking lot) and Frank Valley Road.
To be clear, we applaud the inclusion of this new Muir Beach sidewalk (and would love to see it widened into a shared-use path to allow bicyclists to easily travel between Dias Ridge Trail and Frank Valley Road). But for Caltrans to build a sidewalk in Muir Beach, an element that will cost 10% of the entire project while ignoring its own recommendation in Tam Valley is frustrating at best.
With a Little Help From Our Friends
Suppose that Caltrans simply could not find the money in its $17.5 billion budget to build this short stretch of pathway. At least they could have approached their agency partners in Marin to see if funding could be assembled from other sources. Perhaps Caltrans and Marin County DPW could jointly submit a grant application to meet the funding gap.
Regrettably, this has not happened either. MCBC staff were the first to bring the project to the attention of both the Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) and Marin County DPW. To our understanding, it appears that Caltrans neither (A) intends to fund the path themselves nor (B) plans to ask for funding assistance from another agency.
Can it be Fixed?
Happily it isn’t too late to change this bad decision. The project is still in the very early stages of development. Construction isn’t planned until 2030 (don’t hold your breath), meaning that if we get everyone on the same page, we can make sure that the much-needed complete streets improvements are implemented alongside the repaving project, and not simply promised in some indefinite future.
MCBC staff have met with local elected officials and planners and intend to submit a joint request to Caltrans to include the Tam Valley Class 1 path in the project.
What You Can Do
There won’t be a public meeting for this project for some time (probably years), and Caltrans does not generally listen to average people. But you can contact your elected officials and tell them that you want this project to happen.
The people you should contact are Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters and Assemblymember Damon Connolly.
Send them an email paraphrasing the following statement:
“I’m writing to request that the Caltrans SHOPP project from Manzanita to Stinson Beach include the Class 1 path in Tam Valley that was recommended by the 2018 Caltrans Bay Area Bike Plan.”
Make sure to discuss how being able to safely walk or ride along Route 1 in Tam Valley would affect your and your family’s lives.
What’s Next
Stay tuned for more updates. If there are opportunities for action, we’ll let you know!
members make it happen
Supporters like you, who speak out for safer places to bike and give to MCBC, make projects like these possible. Thank you! Want to support this work? Give here. We’re working hard to ensure that there is always a full pipeline of projects in development so we can keep making Marin more bikeable every year.