ATTEND THIS MEETING! - Larkspur City Hall Presentation on Magnolia Ave. Narrowing Project - Date/time: September 7 at 6:30 pm. (6:00 pm arrival time suggested) - Location: Larkspur City Hall, 400 Magnolia Ave., Larkspur.
Staff will provide an overview and status of the Bon Air Bridge Project and all of its mitigation projects. Mitigation currently involves removing one vehicle lane from each direction on Magnolia Ave. so as to widen the median, and altering the turn lanes from Bon Air onto westbound Magnolia and from Magnolia onto northbound Bon Air so that there will not be an easy right turn, but rather a stop at the stop light and a 90 degree right turn. This will cause further back-up of traffic as vehicles wait in a single lane to turn on to Bon Air Rd.
Friends and neighbors: The issue is the increased traffic congestion which will be created by an ill-conceived bridge mitigation. The new Bon Air Bridge will have two wide bike and multi-use paths (one of each in each direction), which creates the need for a wider bridge. (There will be only two vehicle lanes, one in each direction.) A wider bridge results in more hardscape in a protected wetlands area, which by law requires nearby “mitigation”. The total mitigation required is 99,000 square feet; the narrowing of Magnolia to increase the width of the median accounts for only 11,000 sf of the needed mitigation. We believe that alternative sites for this 11,000 sf of mitigation should be used rather than removing vehicle lanes. The federal agencies and the bike coalition have the power to get their demands met. Concerns of residents and tax payers are evidently not of equal value on these decisions regarding traffic lanes that will affect many people.
Magnolia Avenue is currently gridlocked on school day mornings and afternoons. To make matters worse, soon Sir Francis Drake Blvd. will be under construction for 18 months to 2 years – for the MMWD pipeline repair followed by the SFD Rehabiitation Project -- which means many people will want to re-route to Magnolia Avenue.
Narrowing the vehicle lanes on Magnolia Avenue in order to widen the median is a foolish idea. Larkspur should find another area from which to remove pavement or otherwise provide mitigation. Larkspur should be widening Magnolia wherever possible to accommodate both cars and bikes.
Tell your friends! We need big attendance at this meeting.
Also, we suggest arriving at 6:00 to get seating inside chambers.
