Tiburon Town Council divided in bike-lane letter to Caltrans

Local officials want to see safety revisions in first phase; state mulling options

Caltrans plans to add protected Class-4 bikeways for most of the Tiburon Boulevard project in 2026, though protected lanes were assessed and deemed "infeasible" for a segment between Reed Ranch Road and Jefferson Drive over infrastructure concerns and are curently planned as standard, unprotected Class-2 bike lanes under Caltrans implementation guidelines. However, Caltrans now says new the Class-2 lanes will be upgraded to Class-4 in the second phase of the project in 2027-2028. The lanes will connect to the existing path in the curve to Trestle Glen, which already sits off the road behind a guardrail. The Safe Routes to Schools path will remain on Greenwood Beach Drive. (Kevin Hessel / The Ark; Apple Maps)

Tiburon officials have asked Caltrans to address the impacts of planned Tiburon Boulevard bike lanes on safety, public transit, school buses and traffic, with an agency representative confirming June 23 that it was “coordinating with the town of Tiburon and discussing several options internally.”

The Town Council had voted 3-2 to send the 143-word letter, with Mayor Holli Thier and Councilmember Jack Ryan dissenting, after nearly three hours of public comment and discussion June 18. Ryan wants the entire bike-lane segment between Blackfield Drive and Trestle Glen removed, while Thier said without further elaboration that the letter didn’t address all her safety concerns.

At a special June 4 forum with councilmembers, Southern Marin Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters and residents, Caltrans had said the $12.7-million preventive-maintenance project must proceed as planned because of funding deadlines and concerns that winter storms could further damage the deteriorating roadway. The agency announced the project would come in two phases, with the original plan as phase one.

In its presentation, the agency initially signaled it was open to revisions — phase one included “work with community and stakeholders,” next steps were to “update plans for phase one” and said “we want to hear from you” — but it became clear as the meeting progressed that any major revisions were planned for phase two.

The project as it stands

The yearlong first phase, to start in 2026, would repave the 4.6 miles of state-owned Highway 131 from Mill Valley city limits to Tiburon Boulevard’s intersection with Main Street, upgrading drainage systems, guardrails, curb ramps, signs, traffic signals, lighting, crosswalks and intersections. Officials also said the plan would now incorporate a fiber-optic broadband conduit at Tiburon’s request and preserve medians that would have been eliminated.

For the bike lanes, a multiuse path would connect East Strawberry Drive to Greenwood Cove Drive, which serves as the current bike route to the Old Rail Trail. Otherwise, there would be separated and protected Class-4 bikeways west of Blackie’s Pasture to the south and west of Reed Ranch Road to the north. A one-block segment of standard Class-2 bike lanes would stretch from Reed Ranch to Jefferson Drive, connecting to an existing protected path to Trestle Glen Boulevard.

Caltrans spokesperson Matt O’Donnell, who confirmed this week’s discussions, has said bike lanes are part of the Complete Streets funding for biking, walking and public transit and cannot be removed without “a compelling safety concern.”

The new second phase of the plan, slated for fiscal year 2027-2028, would address safety concerns by upgrading the Class-2 segment to Class-4 while upgrading bus stops to include island platforms, which would improve disability access and reroute bike lanes behind the stops to improve safety.

“The Tiburon Town Council understand that you are coming back to us with an updated plan with phase one and phase two,” the letter says in response, seeking a date for the completed plans and how much time the town will have to respond. “(We) expect the updated plan for phase one to address critical issues raised at the June 4 meeting.”

School bus concerns

The town joined Belvedere, the Reed Union School District, Marin Transit and the Tiburon Peninsula Traffic Alliance, which oversees the local school-bus program, along with hundreds of residents in writing letters to the state.

One of the primary concerns is the potential loss of four school-bus stops, inbound at the 76 gas station, Cecilia Way and Blackie’s Pasture and outbound at Jefferson Drive.

“First Student has said that they will not allow their buses to stop in the bike lanes to load and unload students,” Traffic Alliance Chair Bob McCaskill of Belvedere said during the meeting. “Thus, if the proposed bike lanes are built as designed, we will lose all of our stops between Trestle Glen and Blackfield.”

However, recent Ark interviews with First Student suggest less certainty, with officials saying the bus company would evaluate all stops for safety. Final designs are not yet complete and have not been reviewed by the Traffic Alliance or First Student.

The day after the council meeting, McCaskill wrote to the council alleging The Ark’s June 11 reporting about this difference included a “misquote” from First Student spokesperson Jen Biddinger by omitting her statement that “First Student does not permit our drivers to open bus doors in a bike lane.”

In her June 6 email, Biddinger further explained: “It is viewed the same as opening a bus door into a lane of traffic.”

While the Traffic Alliance has said this policy means First Student will not block or cross over a bike lane to load students directly at the curb, Biddinger said “state law allows school buses to enter and block bike lanes to load or unload students” and that “drivers are trained to go to edge of the available roadway and drop students off at the safest place possible.”

She reviewed Caltrans’ example schematics for bike lanes at the Marin Transit stop at outbound Cecilia Way.

“It appears the bus could enter the painted bike lane to load or unload students, unless there is a physical barrier that prevented it,” Biddinger said. She added: “All stops would need to be evaluated with the safety of students and the state law in mind.”

Biddinger departed First Student June 17, but Chris Bokelman, First Student’s senior director of marketing and communications, confirmed June 20 that Biddinger’s statement “is still accurate.”

McCaskill’s letter to the council also said First Student regional manager Andrew Good told him, “We will not enter a bike lane to onboard or off-board children if it is deemed unsafe,” which appears to allow entering bike lanes when safe.

Matthew Hartzell, the planning director at bicycle-advocacy organization WTB-TAM, was among 18 speakers during public comment at last week’s meeting. He noted that First Student serves San Rafael City Schools and said its buses stop in bike lanes along Point San Pedro Road.

Like the disputed project area on Tiburon Boulevard, a 3-mile stretch of Point San Pedro has four lanes with a physical median and a 40-mph speed limit. Standard Class-2 bike lanes in each direction directly abut the curb and traffic lane, with no buffer on either side, requiring all transit to block bike lanes at stops when loading passengers at the curb.

When The Ark sought further policy clarification from Good, he said he would need to confer with First Student’s location manager, senior location manager, location safety manager and area safety manager before he could comment. That call was expected to take place early this week, he said.

The Traffic Alliance has made other disputed claims.

McCaskill has questioned the legality of any bus blocking a bike lane at any designated bus stop, in a second letter June 23 pointing to a California law that provides carve-outs that don’t list buses among the specified vehicles.

However, that law applies to off-street Class-1 bike paths like the Old Rail Trail. Under the applicable law, motor vehicles are explicitly permitted to cross or block bike lanes to park where permitted, to enter or leave the roadway or to prepare for a turn, with buses legally leaving and re-entering the roadway at designated curbside bus stops.

McCaskill further states that the Class-2 segment between Reed Ranch and Jefferson “conflicts with Caltrans’ own guidance.” Caltrans specifically states that while Class-2 lanes are “not recommended” in corridors where the speed limit is 40-45 mph, they should be considered when Class-4 bikeways aren’t feasible. Caltrans’ project description for Tiburon Boulevard says Class-4 bikeways were assessed for the segment “but were determined to be infeasible due to the presence of limited shoulder width, existing slopes along the shoulder and existing utilities in this location.”

Nonetheless, Caltrans plans to upgrade the segment in the second phase.

In the June 23 letter to the council, McCaskill also cites “transit-first principles of Complete Streets,” echoing board members Ryan and Sally Wilkinson, Belvedere’s vice mayor, who claimed in a Marin Independent Journal op-ed and other forums that state Senate Bill 960 gives transit “priority status” over pedestrians and cyclists.

But the 2024 bill — which was co-sponsored by the California Bicycle Coalition and supported by the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, WTB-TAM and other cycling groups across the state — contains no such phrase.

“There’s no ranking of modes. There’s no priority of transit versus biking or walking or vice versa,” Warren Wells, policy and planning director of the Marin bike coalition, said in an interview.

The bill’s author, Sen. Scott Wiener, D-San Francisco, and bike advocates instead say the bill intends to codify state commitments to reduce passenger-vehicle dependence and greenhouse emissions by “prioritize(ing) road improvements for pedestrians, cyclists and public-transit riders,” Wiener said in a press release at the time.

The law requires Caltrans to create metrics and meet targets to fully implement the Complete Streets program for biking, walking and transit. Under that, a complementary policy to prioritize transit over passenger vehicles must be adopted by Jan. 1, 2026, with performance measures and departmental responsibilities defined by Jan. 1, 2027, and design guidance by July 1, 2028.

Council deliberations

During deliberations, Councilmember Isaac Nikfar said that “we need common sense” when it comes to including bike lanes east of Blackfield Drive. While he said he understood that Caltrans has its Complete Streets directive, the connected Greenwood streets have been the “clear and designated bicycle and pedestrian path from Blackfield to downtown.”

He suggested that instead of making specific requests on the project, the letter include summaries of community feedback from the council’s special meeting on the bike lanes.

Thier said she was fine with the original draft as proposed or a letter “that emphasizes what everybody wants, which is safety,” but that removing the bike lanes endangers the project in its entirety.

Ryan, however, said the “only thing” he sought was a letter that told Caltrans to proceed without including the bike lane from Blackfield Drive to Trestle Glen.

He introduced his own draft letter during discussions, but Thier and Vice Mayor Jon Welner denounced the move, saying it should have been included in the public meeting packet.

Welner said he wanted the letter to tell Caltrans to “incorporate the loud and clear comments you heard about safety, bus use and traffic” — including mentioning the bike lanes. The majority ultimately sided with Welner.

Officials also said they will also seek to address the safety concerns of Greenwood Cove Drive and Greenwood Beach Road residents, with Nikfar and Ryan to serve on a subcommittee to address resident feedback.

“We, as a town, should be able to work with the residents and figure out the safety concerns there,” Nikfar said.

Executive Editor Kevin Hessel contributed to this report. Reach Tiburon reporter Francisco Martinez at 415-944-4634.