Point San Pedro Road Roadway Modification Pilot Project

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Description

Overview

Marin County Public Works, in partnership with the City of San Rafael, will be implementing a Pilot restriping project this year on Point San Pedro Road between Loch Lomond and Peacock Gap.  The Pilot is an opportunity to evaluate an alternative layout for the roadway prior to a paving sealant project scheduled for later this year.  The design concept is based on engineering and traffic data, compliance with regulatory permitting and adopted planning documents, roadway safety concerns, and extensive community comment provided over the last seven months.

What is the "pilot project"?

The Pilot Project (Pilot) will modify eastbound Point San Pedro Road between Loch Lomond Drive/Lochinvar Road and Riviera Drive, converting from two vehicle lanes to one vehicle lane to provide a safety offset buffer from the median and a buffered bike lane while retaining existing on-street parking between Bayview Drive and Main Drive, including along the park frontage.  The westbound roadway will remain as it is currently. The Pilot will only restripe the pavement; no physical changes, such as to curb or median locations, will be made. The area of the Pilot includes both City of San Rafael and County of Marin-maintained roadway segments.

Why a "pilot project"?

Provision of a bike lane along the Bayside Park frontage, required due to a Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) permit related to the park reconstruction project, provided an opportunity to address the permit requirement along with other concerns and issues that have been raised by the community over the years on this section of Point San Pedro Road, including:

• Speeding vehicles
• Poor visibility, particularly when exiting side streets
• Collision History
• Pedestrian safety when crossing Point San Pedro Road
• Bicyclists in the roadway
• Quarry truck traffic
• Loss of parking along the park frontage due to the BCDC permit requirement

Public Works staff from the County and City of San Rafael prepared an initial concept design for discussion at a community meeting held on June 8, 2021.  The design was based on:

• Ability of the roadway to handle traffic volumes with one lane
  • Typical capacity is 1,100 vehicles per hour per lane
  • Peak hour volume (the one-hour period with the highest traffic volume) is 512, less than half the capacity of a single lane
• Improved safety for bicyclists by providing a dedicated bike lane for the entire segment
  • Both the County’s and City’s bicycle and pedestrian master plans identify Point San Pedro Road for designated bike lanes
  • Several segments of bike lanes currently exist; this would provide continuous lanes from the Loch Lomond area to Biscayne Drive
• Improved safety for motorists parking along the roadway
  • Getting in and out of the driver’s side of the vehicle no longer necessitates stepping into what is now an active traffic lane
• Moderating vehicle speeds to reflect the posted speed limit
  • Precludes unsafe passing
• Reducing the “double threat” for pedestrians trying to cross the roadway
  • Removes the potential safety hazard with a two-lane situation when one motorist stops for the pedestrian and the motorist in the other lane does not.
• No impacts to emergency vehicle access or egress
  • No changes to pavement width would occur, only striping changes, leaving the same amount of roadway available for emergency needs
• Improved sight distance for residents backing out of roadway-fronting homes and those exiting side streets
  • Increased ability to “nose out” farther than currently feasible to better see approaching vehicle traffic

From the comments made at and subsequent to that meeting, including further consultation with BCDC staff on permit compliance options, a revised design concept was developed and presented at the community meeting on December 15, 2021.  Revisions included:

• Shifting the vehicle lane away from the median to improve visibility and enlarging the median refuge area for drivers turning left at the Beach and Marine Drive intersections
• Providing an alternative merge location in advance of Loch Lomond Drive
• Continuing the one-lane treatment east of Bayview Park to Riviera Drive

The Pilot will provide an opportunity to install the proposed striping modifications on the existing pavement, evaluate the effects of the modifications, and determine whether to make the Pilot striping layout permanent, implement a modified version of the Pilot striping layout, or revert to the current striping layout with a parking prohibition along Bayside Park.  The final layout will be installed in conjunction with an upcoming pavement sealing project.

What data will be collected and how will it be evaluated?

Baseline data will be collected in advance of restriping the roadway.  This will include current vehicle counts and speeds, bicyclist counts, and updating any collision data.  The same data will be collected during the Pilot. Each instance of data collection will be for at least one week, 24 hours per day.  Determining the effects of the Pilot will be based on:

• Changes in vehicle speeds
• Changes in the occurrence or severity of collisions
• Changes in the mix of roadway user

How will the pilot be implemented and what is the schedule?

Existing eastbound striping will be removed and replaced with the design layout which consists of three distinct segments:  the Merge, Bayview Drive to Main Drive, and Main Drive to Riviera Drive.

• The Merge – East of the Loch Lomond/Lochinvar intersection the eastbound roadway will narrow from two lanes to one in a merge, the length of which is based on the 40mph roadway speed limit.  The merge will be completed by the beginning of the left turn pocket for Bayview Drive.  On-street parking will not be permitted in this section
• Bayview Drive to Main Drive – the roadway will be restriped to provide, from left to right, a 2-foot buffer against the median curb, an 11-foot vehicle lane, a 3-foot striped buffer, a 6-foot bike lane, and an 8-foot parking lane.
• Main Drive to Riviera Drive – the roadway will be restriped to provide a 7-foot buffer against the median curb, an 11-foot vehicle lane, a 5-foot buffer, and a 7-foot bicycle lane.  No parking is permitted on this section of roadway, except as currently permitted in the vicinity of Riviera Drive.

The planned schedule is:

• February 2022 – baseline data collection
• April 2022 – installation of Pilot striping
• May 2022 – first Pilot data collection
• August 2022 – second Pilot data collection
• September 2022 – presentation of data collection and Pilot outcomes and selection of final striping layout; pavement sealant application and installation of final striping layout.

What is the Pavement Sealing Project?

Point San Pedro Road was last repaved in 2014.  Over time and ongoing usage, asphalt begins to deteriorate, developing cracks and potholes.  Left untouched, the cost to repair and repave escalates exponentially. Applying a pavement sealant, sometimes called a slurry, before significant cracks or potholes develop can extend the life of the base pavement layer at a relatively low cost, prolonging the need to do a full repaving which is considerably more expensive.

Given the age of the pavement, Point San Pedro Road is scheduled to receive a pavement sealant later this year which will be done as a joint City-County project from Mooring Road to Cantera Way. This will provide a clean canvas to stripe the roadway based on the outcomes of the Pilot. Staff is investigating whether a sound-deadening sealant material is available.