City to take fourth swing at $4 million grant for separated bikeway on Redwood Highway
Public Works Director Julian Skinner asked the Parks and Recreation Commission Thursday night to bless the city's fourth attempt at a state Active Transportation Program grant for a roughly $4 million project along Redwood Highway from Wornum Drive north to the city limits. The plan: a Class 4 separated two-way cycle track and widened sidewalk on the east side of the highway, a new full traffic signal at the Trader Joe's/Cost Plus driveway, and new sidewalk running north past Rich Street to tie into existing paths. The project traces back to the decade-old North South Greenway multi-jurisdictional planning effort.
“If we have another big super king tide like we did in January, this area would be underwater again.”— Julian Skinner, Public Works Director, on the Redwood Highway corridor
Skinner told commissioners the application has scored well before and lost anyway. "This project actually scored very high. It's just that 90% of the people that applied for it didn't meet the criteria... it's a gap closure, so it scores very high. It's a separated bike facility, so it scores very high," he said. The sticking point, he explained, is that Larkspur has no recognized "communities of concern," which drags down the city's score on federally linked criteria no matter how strong the design.
Commissioners had questions. One asked about the ground itself: "Not too long ago, wasn't this whole area completely underwater? As it was brought up in council last night, we're headed for a super El Niño with more rains and flooding expected." Skinner did not sugarcoat it: "If we have another big super king tide like we did in January, this area would be underwater again." Commissioner Sunshine asked whether the new signal would be a full vehicle signal or a crossing-only beacon; Skinner said it will be a full signal with pedestrian heads, interconnected with the signal at Industrial to meter traffic together. Asked whether cyclists coming from the ferry and tunnel would simply stay in the roadway instead of crossing to the new facility, Skinner shrugged at the reality: "We experience on Magnolia Avenue, we have a Class 1 bike path and we still see cyclists who prefer to ride with traffic in the street. Perfectly legal."
No resolution was required — staff sought concurrence only. The commission's motion to support proceeding with the grant application passed unanimously on a voice vote. The application is due at the end of June.