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Marin planners scrutinize Highway 101 interchange projects

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New roundabouts, a widened overpass, a bridge replacement and bicycle and pedestrian crossings have been proposed as options to modernize three Highway 101 interchanges in Marin.

With a breadth of options, officials at the Transportation Authority of Marin said they want to take a closer look before deciding which to invest in to advance to design and environmental review.

An executive committee directed staff at its meeting this month to conduct three focused workshops with local representatives, one for each project area, to help reduce the number of proposed alternatives and cut study costs.

“This is a lot of information … and it involves several different overpasses,” said Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, a member of the committee and board governing the authority. “And I feel that local eyes and understanding are needed in many ways to assess things.”

The interchanges include Alameda del Prado/Nave Drive in Novato; Manuel T. Freitas Parkway in San Rafael; and East Blithedale Avenue/Tiburon Boulevard in Mill Valley.

Staff said it costs about $1.5 million to study each project alternative in a state-required environmental review, and staff costs would be about $500,000 per project. There are two project alternatives considered for the Novato crossing, six alternatives at the San Rafael site and four alternatives at the Mill Valley interchange.

Staff recommended advancing only the San Rafael and Mill Valley projects for environmental review and design at an estimated cost of $15 million. If the board could weed out some of the weaker design alternatives, the agency could save on costs, staff said. The board agreed with that strategy.

The project proposals came from a study of 11 interchanges from Sausalito to Novato. The study developed plans for  “long-term” concepts that address needs for cars, transit, bicyclists and pedestrians, and “near-term” projects that might not address all needs.

The interchange concepts were evaluated based on a set of criteria around health and safety, traffic relief, multimodal access across the highway, implementability and whether they promoted economic vitality.

Planners narrowed the study to focus on the three project areas. The Novato interchange is considered a near-term improvement, while the other two are considered long-term.

A driver turns onto Nave Drive from Alameda del Prado in Novato, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

For Alameda Del Prado at Nave Drive, one alternative has signal lights at intersections, while the other has roundabouts. The intersections are the northbound Highway 101 offramp at Nave Drive on the east side of the freeway, and Nave Drive at Alameda Del Prado on the west.

Improvements are planned at the Bolling Drive intersection, but no roundabout is proposed there. A multiuse path is proposed across the overpass in both cases.

The project estimates range from $49 million for the signalized lights to $54 million for the roundabouts.

Six alternatives are proposed for the Manuel T. Freitas Parkway interchange. Three versions include traffic light controlled intersections. Two of the alternatives propose variations of a bicycle and pedestrian crossing structure on the west side of the freeway: one going over the southbound freeway ramps and the other going under the ramps. Another proposes a path at grade.

Three other alternatives propose the same improvements, but with roundabouts. Roundabouts are proposed at Freitas Parkway at Del Presidio Boulevard and at Freitas at Northgate Drive on the west side of the highway.

Estimated costs range from $23.7 million to $43.4 million for the three versions with traffic lights. Roundabout versions are more expensive at $34.7 million to $47.1 million.

Staff noted that there is a roundabout at the Freitas Parkway intersection at Civic Center Drive and Redwood Highway under construction on the east side of the freeway.

David Parisi, county traffic consultant, said Caltrans is asking planners to consider roundabouts where possible.

“That’s really important to them because of safety, and also congestion reliefs,” said Parisi, explaining that it could be challenging to eliminate roundabout plans from consideration.

Cars travel from Tiburon Boulevard to East Blithedale over Highway 101 in Mill Valley, Calif. on Friday, Oct. 17, 2025. (Alan Dep/Marin Independent Journal)

At the East Blithedale Avenue/Tiburon Boulevard interchange, one alternative would widen the bridge and one involves replacing it, and both are designed to accommodate a bicycle and pedestrian path. Two other alternatives propose constructing variations of a multiuse crossing separated from the vehicle overpass.

Estimates range from $52.5 million, the cheapest being widening the bridge, to $91 million to replace it. The bridge is 70 years old.

“So there was some discussion, does it make sense to retrofit it, widen it or just start over?” Parisi said.

Funding for the project studies comes from Measure AA sales tax, which collects about $35 million annually for the agency.

Officials have been debating whether to redistribute some of the sales tax revenues to help other projects, including sustaining a school crossing guard program. One option to do that involved taking a half percent, or $4 million, from a fund that supports the Highway 101 interchange projects.

“We did want to make sure the full board was aware of what they were giving up if we moved half a percent out of this to the crossing guards,” said Dan Cherrier, director of project delivery.

Staff are expected to present an update on the Highway 101 interchange study and the financial implications to the board at a meeting on Thursday.

The executive committee also recommended that the board approve a one-year contract extension with consultants HNTB Corp., which is preparing a project initiation document for the interchange proposals. That report must be completed before environmental review and design. The contract would remain at $4.4 million.

The board meets at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at 1600 Los Gamos Drive in San Rafael. Meeting information and staff reports are available at tam.ca.gov.




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