Marin officials develop first countywide transportation plan

Post-pandemic commuter trends and the effects of climate change are altering the way Marin transportation planners are thinking about how people get around the county and the Bay Area.

For the first time, the Transportation Authority of Marin is developing a countywide transportation plan focused on creating an equitable and sustainable future. Planners hosted a workshop last week to kick off the process for the plan that will propose policies, as well as short- and long-term projects, that will shape the county’s transportation system for the next 25 years.

“It is genuinely my belief that all the stakeholders and our constituents here in Marin County, they’re really looking forward to us embarking on this,” said San Anselmo Councilmember Brian Colbert, who serves as chair of the authority’s board of commissioners. “When I talk to almost anyone, they are frustrated by the challenges of our infrastructure, and they see an opportunity for us to future-proof how we might move into this.”

The authority’s board voted unanimously in May to approve up to $525,000 for the development of the plan, which is expected to be completed in late 2024.

The plan is a departure from how project and policy development was done in the past, said Derek McGill, director of planning for the authority.

“We did a congestion management program for years,” McGill said.

That type of planning process involved first identifying roads, and then setting a standard for the level of congestion each of those arteries could handle.

“When it went below those standards, we looked at what could be done to make it better,” McGill said. “The board voted to opt out of that process, because we found it wasn’t equitable, and safety couldn’t be considered.”

At the workshop on Thursday, Anne Richman, executive director of the authority, said this is about creating a new vision for the transportation system into 2050.

“We know everyone wants many things and we can do a lot but there are of course often choices and trade-offs,” Richman said. “Do we focus on state of good repair? Do we focus on micro-mobility, transit service, walking, safety climate and many more topics?”

Steve Kinsey, a former Marin County supervisor and member of the authority’s board, is serving as a project consultant.

Kinsey said that this new plan needs to take into consideration other regional and state plans in order to align outcomes and achieve a better chance for state and federal funding for future projects.

At the workshop, the board focused most of its support for projects around bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, transit and school bus programs. There were virtually no comments about prioritizing increased freeway capacity or connections.

Specifically, the board said its highest priorities for the plan include improvements for school and local travel; safer streets for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists; closing the gaps in existing bicycle and pedestrian network and focusing on transit ridership growth.

The board also said it is interested in community building; leveraging grant funds and maintaining existing infrastructure.

As part of a brainstorming exercise, board members said they are interested in supporting transportation options for the county’s aging residents who can no longer drive. They also want to create a more frequent, reliable and affordable transit system. Getting cars off the road became a merging theme of the conversation.

Mill Valley Councilmember Urban Carmel, the city’s representative on the board, cautioned against a wish list that is too big.

“This is going to have to involve hard choices,” Carmel said. “We’re going to have to eliminate something from this list to make things work.”

Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, a member of the board, said when it comes to adapting to climate change, “the more immediate way into that is wildfire evacuation planning.”

“When we look at evacuation planning we’re going to find that our road network is inadequate in some places, and certainly in many parts of Marin County we don’t have a second way in and out,” Moulton-Peters said. “And whether it’s for evacuation or sea level rise, that’s a problem.”

Corte Madera Councilmember Pat Ravasio is the town’s representative on the board. Ravasio said “every project that we look at needs to be seen through” a lens of climate adaptation. “Because it’s the lens that we’re going to be dealing with in the future.”

Considering the behavioral changes in commuters since the pandemic, Supervisor Katie Rice asked her colleagues how much emphasis should be placed on local transportation efforts versus regional mobility.

“The pandemic has made major changes to the way people behave,” Rice said.

Maribeth Bushey, the San Rafael City Council’s representative on the board, said “It’s time to show some leadership,” to help transit agencies adapt, “so that we have a county that’s ready for the future instead of pretending that it’s still 2019.”

“It’s been three and a half years,” Bushey said. “Sitting back and thinking there hasn’t been a tectonic shift in how people work in the Bay Area is not dealing with reality.”

The Transportation Authority of Marin is planning two more workshops, starting in the spring. A draft plan is expected to be released in the summer. The final plan is expected to be presented for consideration next fall.