San Rafael is in the process of updating its citywide bicycle and pedestrian plan. This plan (last updated in 2018) is the roadmap that will guide the city in the development of its biking and walking network for the next several years.
The city is currently most of the way through its second round of outreach. After taking general feedback from the public, the project team has developed a set of recommendations, including 20 high-priority projects across the city. You can view those here, or click here to access the city’s project website.
How to give your feedback
Click here to open the interactive map, and click “Bike Projects” in the upper right. To provide feedback on the city’s recommendations, you can click on a given street and then either click “support,” “oppose,” or “comment.” We recommend supporting projects you see as being particularly important. For any that you oppose (for example, you think that painted bike lanes are not sufficient on a given road), you should click “oppose” and then explain that in the “comment” section.
Note that you can only give feedback on the projects that are recommended. If you see something that you think should be in the plan but is not, you can email the project team using this link.
Our thoughts on the plan
MCBC is submitting a detailed letter to the city, which you can read here. Some of our comments go beyond individual projects and have more to do with how the bike plan will be implemented (and the degree to which the 2018 plan was not). However, we do have several very important suggestions to the network, and it would be helpful if community members could echo those suggestions.
| Street | Bike Plan Recommendation | MCBC Recommendation |
| Woodland Avenue | Sharrows and potentially traffic calming | Either a bike lane or protected bike lane, especially where there is no fronting residential. |
| Manuel T Freitas Parkway (above Del Ganado) | Painted bike lane as far as Montecillo, and then sharrows | There is room for separated bike lanes here, which are needed because the speed limit is 35 mph. |
| Francisco Boulevard E | Sharrows | Given the speeds, volumes, and truck traffic, this needs to be a separated bike lane. |
| Lucas Valley Road/Smith Ranch Road | Painted bike lanes | Lucas Valley Road has room for separated bike lanes. Smith Ranch Road does not need parking and four lanes. Drop either a lane or parking to protect the bike lanes. |
| Las Gallinas Ave (between Northgate Dr and Freitas Parkway) | Painted bike lanes | This is a high-stress gap in the bike network. The 2018 plan recommended protected bike lanes here. That should be the recommendation now, even if it requires removing parking. |
| Nova Albion Way (between Northgate Mall and Terra Linda HS) | Sharrows | This is an important route to Terra Linda HS (more so with the Northgate Mall project) and is very dangerous before and after school. Needs a bike lane or substantial traffic calming. |
| Andersen Drive east of Bellam Blvd (toward the RSR Bridge) | Painted bike lane | This is the main route from downtown to the RSR Bridge, but is just a painted bike lane with lots of high-speed truck traffic. We recommend a two-way protected bike lane on the north side between the future Bellam Boulevard path and the 580 flyover path at E Sir Francis Drake Blvd. |
When is the last day to comment?
You have until Friday, December 19th to make comments on the recommended projects. Let us know if we missed anything that you think is important!