Hardworking people making a difference

Marin has cause for celebration. A new multi-user path now connects the banks of Corte Madera Creek on the east side of the interchange at Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Highway 101 (“Key connector in Marin bike network opens,” July 15).

This creek crossing is a giant step toward connecting the Larkspur-Corte Madera community to the ferry, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit train and San Rafael in a safe and comfortable fashion for people walking and bicycling. Design for an extension south is underway, leaving the segment fronting Cost Plus Plaza as the major safety gap in this section of the North-South Greenway.

If you don't bike or walk, why should you care? In 2013, at a projected cost of $143 million, a 33-foot flyover structure with a 24-foot high retaining wall was proposed for this site. That massive structure would have destroyed views of Mount Tamalpais without addressing the primary cause of congestion, the limited access to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge via East Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

Ultimately, the Transportation Authority of Marin adopted an alternative strategy shaped in large part by Marin Deserves Better, a group of 25 community members assembled by Jana Haehl. Haehl's leadership was instrumental in building a consensus plan for safe access and connectivity for all travel modes within the project area. The new creek crossing and the current development of a direct freeway connection between highways 101 and 580 are a direct result of community engagement.

The path across Corte

Madera Creek also would not exist without the efforts of Patrick Seidler of Transportation Alternatives for Marin. Seidler identified and drew attention to legislation that authorized necessary funding.

— Cheryl Longinotti, Corte Madera