Bike-pedestrian plan makes sense

Marin IJ, April 21, 2007

Supervisors were wise to focus on projects that will make a difference right away when they approved a $20 million blueprint for Marin bicycle and pedestrian improvements.

Marin has the chance to be a national model for encouraging people to leave their cars at home and walk or ride their bikes. The list of projects approved by supervisors is a big step in that direction.

Marin was one of four counties in the United States selected to take part in a $100 million federal pilot effort to demonstrate ways to get people out of their cars.

While $20 million in federal seed money is nothing to sneeze at, an advisory committee identified $200 million in potential projects in Marin.

The spending plan approved this week by supervisors will not make every bike advocate in Marin happy, but the variety of improvements should make it easier and safer to get around different parts of the county on foot or by pedaling a bike.

Those bicycle advocates would be wise to focus on making the selected projects succeed and not obsess about some of the worthy projects that failed to make the cut. The reality is that if these projects make a measurable difference right away, Marin and other counties across the country will stand a much better chance of getting more federal transportation money for other projects.

The 19-member advisory committee worked for months to come up with its recommendations. The committee held numerous open forums and hearings to collect public testimony.

Despite those efforts, some city and town leaders felt they had been left out of the process. That's too bad, but hardly unexpected.

The plan adopted by supervisors attempts to accommodate those many competing interests.

It answers, for example, complaints by Ross Valley leaders that they had been shortchanged by earmarking more than $600,000 for improvements in Fairfax and San Anselmo, serving an east-west route across Marin.

The plan also scales back the money devoted to the Alto Tunnel, a decision that has generated perhaps the most controversy. The advisory committee's recommendation to spend $850,000 for an engineering report to reopen the long-closed train tunnel for a bike path drew complaints from Mill Valley and Corte Madera officials, as well as neighborhoods at both ends of the 2,200-foot-long tunnel.

Supervisors instead committed $250,000 to explore the best way to improve the Mill Valley-Corte Madera crossing, which could include changes to Camino Alto or the path along Horse Hill along with the tunnel.

Local bike advocates, one after another, complained to supervisors, portraying the reduction in tunnel money as a missed opportunity. They argued that it might be one of the most critical routes in creating a north-south bike "greenway."

The straight, flat and car-free route through the tunnel is far superior to other options and deserved more money, they said, pointing to Maryland's Capital Crescent pathway, which turned old railroad tracks into a bustling bike path.

They could well be right. The tunnel received an impressive show of support. But reopening the tunnel could cost $30 million, the county has estimated. That exceeds the cost of reopening the Cal Park tunnel, which includes making it capable of use by trains.

Supervisors opted to focus this round of money on projects that can be implemented by the program's 2010 deadline for results. The Alto Tunnel's cost and complexity are far beyond the scope of the pilot program.

The success of the pilot program will be demonstrated by showing that these improvements got people out of their cars. It is that simple.

If done properly, the $250,000 Alto Tunnel study will answer some important questions, including what it will take to reopen the tunnel and what impact that route will have on neighborhoods at both ends of the tunnel.

County supervisors may not have pleased all their pedal-pushing constituents Tuesday, but they adopted a balanced plan that promises to deliver results, both in making many critical improvements and also making it easier for Marin residents to leave their cars at home.

This pilot program needs to hit the ground running to deliver those results. The advisory committee's work and the county's leadership finally have produced a sound plan that makes sense.

Marin has a tremendous opportunity. The key now is for bicycle and other transportation advocates to focus on what can be accomplished and not keep arguing about what projects didn't make the list. That would send the wrong message.

They would be wise to remember that the rest of the nation is watching.