New bridge over Sir Francis Drake in Larkspur will close road later this month

By Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal

POSTED: 03/04/15,

Sir Francis Drake Boulevard between the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and Highway 101 will be closed for two nights at the end of the month so a prefabricated bridge can be installed.

Once the bridge is in, bicyclists and pedestrians will have a way over the busy thoroughfare to the ferry terminal and beyond. But that will not be until late summer or early fall when the entire project — the “Central Marin Ferry Connection Multi-Use Pathway” — is completed.

The new steel truss 291-foot bridge will essentially follow the alignment of an old railroad trestle — part of a rail line built in the 1880s and made famous in the movie “Dirty Harry” — that was removed in 2003 after it was damaged by a truck.

It will start near the Cal Park Hill Tunnel, cross the busy boulevard, and deposit people on an east-west pathway. The new structure also will make it easier for bikers to travel north and south through the county.

“Not only will this promote walking and biking, but it will enhance safety for those committed to using human power to get around,” said Raul Rojas, Marin County’s public works director.

Work crews plan to bring in the bridge in three sections on March 23 and then assemble it during the closures.

The first closure is from 10:30 p.m. March 26 until 4:30 a.m. the next day. The second closure will be from 10:30 p.m. March 27 until 6 a.m. the next day. The closure will result in detours.

“Once it’s up we will still need to put up hand railings, lighting, screening and pour the concrete for the walkway,” said Bill Whitney, project manager for the Transportation Authority of Marin. “This is really the skeletal structure.”

Ghilotti Bros. Inc. of San Rafael bid $9.4 million to do the work on the pathway. The project is being funded by money from 2004’s voter-approved Regional Measure 2, which raised Bay Area state bridge tolls by $1, and federal “non-motorized” transportation funding via the county.

In December 2010 the revamped Cal Park Hill Tunnel, an 1,100-foot tube, was opened at a cost of $28 million with the financing split between the county and Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit agency.

The tunnel, which is 30 feet wide and 25 feet tall, has been divided, part of it dedicated to the rail right of way to deliver trains to Larkspur and the ferry, the other to bicycle and pedestrian use. Federal dollars are in the congressional budget to extend the train through the tunnel and to Larkspur.

Train passengers will be able to use the new bridge to get to the ferry terminal, and to boats going into San Francisco.

Since the reopening of the Cal Park Hill Tunnel bicyclists and pedestrians have had a quicker way to get from San Rafael to Larkspur. But in order to continue on to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal they need to cross a parking lot and busy intersections on Sir Francis Drake. The new structure will assist that travel.

In addition, the project:

• Creates an access ramp leading down to the existing ground level, east-west pathway adjacent to Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

• Provides pedestrian and bicycle improvements to the existing multi-use pathway on the south side of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard from the Highway 101 offramp up to the ferry terminal property.

• Creates a new sidewalk on the north side of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard, connecting the path with the sidewalk along Larkspur Landing Circle.

• Creates and enhances 1.4 acres of salt marsh habitat at Hal Brown Creekside Park, upstream in the Corte Madera Creek watershed.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Reach the author at mprado@marinij.com or follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkPradoIJ.
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Why so many different numbers ?
Over the years I have read in the IJ that the Cal Park tunnel cost $25 million, $27 million and now $28 million. And that the tunnel is 40 feet wide, 25 feet wide and now it is 30 feet wide. Who are we supposed to believe ?

Also, in this article it says that the $28 million cost was paid for by the County of Marin taxpayers and the taxpayers through the approval of the new SMART train tax district, but in the past I have read that at least half of the cost of the Cal Park tunnel was paid for by Federal tax dollars earmarked for non-motorized transportation. Aren't trains motorized ?
I have also read the the MCBC claimed that the tunnel would be used by over a million cyclists and pedestrians per year. I was down on Jacoby St. today at the dump and Brooklyn Pizza and I did not see one cyclist or pedestrian in the 2 hours that I was there.
We have been hoodwinked.

All this money being spent on these fancy projects is great for the out of county contractors like Ghilotti Bros. who hire laborers from all over the world, but I don't see much real benefit to the people of Marin at all. I call it a "make work project".