101 flooding in Marin City must be fixed
The state is getting ready to tackle a longstanding problem, flooding that closes down the roads in and out of Marin City and Shoreline Highway north of the Manzanita commuter lot.
These have been troublespots for years and previous flood-control strategies have been far short of effective cures.
In fact, state Sen. Mike McGuire has called fixing the Marin City flooding the “first priority.”
That's good news for neighborhood leaders who have been complaining about the slow pace of state and county leaders in implementing any long-term remedies.
McGuire is working to find funding to help the project begin sooner. After all, Caltrans has a lengthy “waiting list” of jobs it needs to address.
Addressing Marin City's flooding woes is a plan to raise southbound Highway 101 and the Marin City offramp, construct a long floodwall between the freeway and the stormwater pond and install pumps to prevent the pond from flooding by pushing water into Richardson Bay.
He's also hopeful that “short-term strategies,” some of which have already been completed, will make a difference. That work has included building a flood barrier between the Marin City pond and the freeway and repairing the box culvert that runs under the freeway and fixing the flood gate.
The county is also at work to install a new pump station and install a second culvert under Highway 101.
Both McGuire and county Supervisor Stepanie Moulton-Peters are putting this longneeded work on the civic front burner.
At Manzanita, the state has installed a new drainage inlet and a flood gate. But McGuire is also pushing Caltrans' plan to raise the frequently flooded stretch of Shoreline Highway and the Mill Valley-Sausalito multiuse path, as well as beef up flood protection for the commuter parking lot.
Flooding of the lot has been a seemingly unsolvable problem for years.
Some of these spots are subject to tidal flooding. It doesn't have to rain for them to be under water. And climate change promises to worsen the problem.
Caltrans has no shortage of jobs it needs to get done, even up and down McGuire's North Coast district. But McGuire says he's serious about making fast-moving progress toward getting these improvements built.
He recently led local leaders and the press on a tour of these flooding hotspots. He's going to have to ride herd on these projects so his words lead to substantive action.
The promised work can't move too fast for Marin City residents weary of flooding that has increased in frequency and duration in recent years. Some residents have complained that their neighborhood, including the county's largest public housing complex, has been trapped by the flooding.
McGuire and Moulton-Peters, as two of their elected representatives, need to keep these promised projects moving through necessary approvals and construction.