Mill Valley project to widen bike lanes
Designers working on a street repair project on East Blithedale Avenue are adding wider bike lanes with barriers.
The original design by the Mark Thomas civil engineering firm included a class 2 bike lane on the eastbound portion of the corridor from Lomita Drive to Tower Drive. On the westbound side, the design included a 4-foot shoulder lane.
Neither lane had a divider between traffic and cyclists. This prompted calls for class 4 lanes, which have barriers.
In January, Patrick Seidler, president of Transportation Alternatives for Marin, promised the City Council to revise the plan
free of charge. He recruited traffic consultant David Parisi for a redesign.
Parisi was able to include wider lanes in the design, adding that it would cost another $12,000 to $24,000 for the construction, Seidler said. The city hired the Mark Thomas firm last month for about $1 million.
Seidler said the redesign is the first step in a larger vision of more connected, less traffic congested, Marin.
“This might be one of the best bike, pedestrian projects in Marin County history since the first bike plan in 1974,” he said Thursday. “It’s a really unique opportunity.”
“This project has been in the books almost half a century and to get it to this level is super exciting,” he said. “We’ve done a lot.
It’s a sensational project.”
Councilman Urban Carmel said he supports adding class 4 lanes to as much of East Blithedale Avenue as possible. He said it would be a huge step toward reducing vehicle congestion, boosting emergency egress and providing safe routes to schools.
“It’s going to be a milestone,” he said. “The reason it’s critical is it ties it all together. What’s missing is the section that goes across 101. Once you have both ends, fixing those 100 yards in the middle becomes a political imperative.”
Ahmed Aly, the project manager for the city, said the Mark Thomas firm is incorporating Parisi’s design to add class 4 lanes westbound from Tower Drive to Meadow Drive and eastbound