Ex-mayor pitches pedestrian tunnel to trail near Del Mar

Tiburon resident Andrew Thompson is proposing a pedestrian tunnel, as depicted in this rendering, that would travel underneath Tiburon Boulevard and connect the Old Rail Trail with Reed Heights-Tiburon Knolls and Del Mar neighborhoods and Del Mar Middle School. (via Andrew Thompson)

A former Tiburon mayor is pitching a new idea he says could reduce traffic congestion and increase safety along Tiburon Boulevard: a pedestrian and bike tunnel that would run underneath the road and connect the Old Rail Trail to the Del Mar Middle School tennis courts, where it would then meet an existing pedestrian path that leads to the Reed Heights-Tiburon Knolls and Del Mar neighborhoods.

Andrew Thompson said he has spent about seven months talking about the idea with neighbors, town staff and Reed Union School District officials, as well as a tunnel-construction company headed by a Tiburon resident, though he declined to name the company.

For now, the idea is just that — a suggestion, both Thompson and Town Manager Greg Chanis said, with Chanis noting the town is treating the idea like all resident-submitted traffic ideas, including forwarding it to Parametrix, a consultant working on a traffic study of Tiburon Boulevard, Paradise Drive and Trestle Glen Boulevard. A draft of the study is expected to be presented to the Town Council in November.

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