Public Comment needed at Tuesday City Council Meeting

[Warren Wells]

Hi there Sausalito Bike Advocates,

I wanted to note two items on the 7/15/2025 City Council agenda that could use your support.

To send an email to the city council, you can click here or address an email to city...@sausalito.gov.

Item 5A - Crosswalk daylighting

Thanks to a bill passed by the state legislature, it is now illegal to park a car within 20' in front of a crosswalk (a policy known as "daylighting" the crosswalk). The purpose of that is to increase visibility between drivers and pedestrians, who might otherwise have to peek out around parked cars to check oncoming traffic. This is a particular hazard for wheelchair users or people pushing strollers. MCBC was happy to support this legislation.

However, the bill did not require that cities paint that section of curb red, but we all know that compliance will be much higher if the high-priority intersections get red curbs. City staff have identified a number of intersections to red curb and we want to tell them that we support this. But additionally, though cars cannot be parked within 20' of a crosswalk, the bill permits bicycle parking to be installed there. Given the significant lack of bicycle parking in Downtown Sausalito, this presents a great opportunity to install bike parking without compromising car parking or impinging on the city's well-used sidewalks. To date, both San Anselmo and Mill Valley have installed bike parking in areas previously used as car parking. This is cheap and a great use of space! We urge the city council to direct staff to identify opportunities for additional bike parking in the AB 413 zones.

Item 5C - Bridgeway Lane Widths

The city council is authorizing pavement rehabilitation on Bridgeway between Easterby and Nevada. This will improve the driving and riding quality of the road. However, it appears from the plans that the driving lanes will be widened, with the outside lane going to 12' (a standard width for freeways). This runs counter to the recently-lowered speed limits, and will tempt people to drive too fast. Additionally, the bike lanes are already as narrow as the state allows, and partially in the gutter. We urge the city to limit the general purpose lanes to 11' and allocate the additional street width into the bike lanes. The lanes will still be too narrow to provide an 'all ages and abilities' experience, but narrowing the traffic lanes and widening the bike lane will discourage illegal speeding and make sideswiping of bicyclists less likely.

As always, let me know if you have any questions!

-Warren

p.s. See a great example of bike parking in the AB 413 daylighting zone

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Warren J. Wells, AICP

Policy & Planning Director

Marin County Bicycle Coalition

phone/text (415) 456-3469 | marinbike.org

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