Brady PieperThe County of Marin in California is adopting a decades-long strategic vision plan to advise long-term government spending and enhance multimodal transportation options for residents.
The Transportation Authority of Marin is approving a 25-year comprehensive plan that will outline funding priorities for transformative infrastructure projects across Marin County. The plan, also known as Countywide Transportation Plan, will focus on enhancing mobility, improving air quality and preserving quality of life for Marin’s current residents and future generations to come.
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The transportation authority’s board, consisting of county supervisors and representatives from Marin’s municipal councils, approved the amended plan following months of community and stakeholder feedback, encouraging the agency to address major transportation challenges facing residents.
Operating as the county’s general long-range planning tool and with traffic congestion remaining a concern for local residents, the plan envisions a future where travel options go beyond cars, integrating public transit, biking, walking and innovative technologies into existing transportation systems.
The newly-approved plan will feature several amendments that clarify existing language, incorporate additional community plans into future decision-making processes and support inclusivity in all aspects of community and transportation.
The countywide plan will pursue the expansion of bike and pedestrian access to major corridors and additional upgrades to regional transit hubs, including improvements to transit quality and enhancements to safeguarding techniques used to protect flood-prone routes from sea-level rise.
The strategic vision’s approval will lead to the establishment of two committees seeking to address policy issues and ensure the equitable implementation of proposed strategies. Additionally, the agency is launching a review of its current programs to ensure alignment with the new transportation vision.
Marin’s plan will also include considerations for and strategies to mitigate unfair housing practices against lower income families and individuals. The transportation plan will include provisions to the 2023-2031 Marin County Housing Element, which will remove precedent language from the plan to adhere to a court ruling on housing priorities.
Notably, the approval of the plan does not include capital improvement projects, specific funding allocations or contractor timeframes in its initial release. However, transportation authority officials will focus instead on strategic goals and vision-setting for the future and anticipate releasing more information as the plan continues to narrow its focus.
As of this approval, the Transportation Authority of Marin highlights several impactful transportation projects that improve public safety and transit efficiency, including the Marin-Sonoma Narrows project, the Safe Routes to Schools initiative, the Street Smarts Marin agenda, the Multi-Modal and Local Assess Improvement project and the State Route 37 project.
While Marin’s full transportation plan is not yet available, amendments discussed at the board’s December meeting can be found on the county’s program webpage.
Photo courtesy Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
