The Pt. San Pedro Road Coalition wants to clarify our position on the changes to the Third and Hetherton intersection approved by the City Council at their meeting on July 2nd. The Marin IJ reported in an article on July 4 that the Coalition supported these changes. Although we do support the concept of improving pedestrian safety, we also have some major concerns about the traffic congestion impacts on what is being proposed. The IJ article failed to mention these concerns and our other suggestions that we presented at that City Council meeting.
The proposed changes would involve removing the left turn only lane on 3rd Street at Hetherton, shortening the distance of the southern pedestrian crosswalk, providing pedestrians a five second lead crossing time and upgrades to the traffic signals and signage at the intersection.
At the City Council meeting, the Coalition was represented by Kevin Hagerty, Chairman of our Roadway Committee. Mr. Hagerty stated that the Coalition is supportive of improving the pedestrian safety in the Third and Hetherton intersection, but any changes made to accomplish this goal must not significantly delay vehicular traffic making left turns on to Hetherton or traveling westbound through the intersection. The Coalition believes that what is being proposed by the City will result in delays to vehicles in the area much longer that the two to three seconds claimed by City staff and their consultant.
Mr. Hagerty also presented these suggestions to the Council for their consideration:
- Changes should be implemented incrementally with the left turn only lane maintained while using the 5 second pedestrian head-start accommodation.
- A good first step would be to implement the proposed change for a trial period of six months. The permanent solution should be delayed until the location of the new San Rafael Transit Center is determined.
- Before the start of this trial period, the City needs to clearly define a set of measurable criteria to determine whether the trial is successful. At the end of the trial period, the Department of Public Works should prepare a report on the results of the trial and submit it to the public and the City Council for review.
- Once the SMART extension to Larkspur commences, the City needs analyze the impacts of related traffic congestion on the 3rd and Hetherton intersection when trains cross 2d and 3rd Streets.
- Before the start of the trail period, The City needs to have a backup plan that they can quickly implement if it turns out the trial program is creating significant traffic delays.
In January of this year, City staff presented the initial consultant finding and recommendations regarding the Third and Hetherton intersection to the Coalition’s HOA Working Group on Traffic Congestion. Members of that group had some major concerns about the proposals presented and their impact on traffic congestion. City staff listened to the comments and said they would review them with their consultant and would get back to the Working Group with any changes before the City would move forward on this project. The Coalition is disappointed that the City failed to come back to our Working Group with an improved plan. Instead they elected to move forward with one of the proposals presented to us.
The Coalition plans to continue to rely on it’s HOA Working Group on Traffic Congestion to review and comment on traffic issues the impact the residents of the Point San Pedro Road Peninsula.