Advancing Intersection & Crosswalk Safety in Sausalito (June 16 City Council Meeting)
Kieran Culligan
It has been three months since my last update on the AB413 crosswalk daylighting. This Tuesday, June 16, the City Council will again discuss implementing these required visibility zones on Caledonia Street.
Safety on the agenda. Before diving into AB413, three other items on Tuesday's agenda also relate to crosswalks and intersections:
Item 3.H (Bridgeway Mid-Block Crossing - Princess to Richardson): The City plans to study improvements this year to calm traffic and make this busy area safer for pedestrians.
Item 3.J (Coloma Street Sidewalk Project): This item approves funding for the final engineering design to close critical sidewalk gaps and create a raised crosswalk on the critical safe route to school. We expect the recommended construction bid for this project to come to the Council in July.
Item 5.B (Sausalito Budget for Fiscal Year 2026-2027): The Staff report mentions "A new project (Princess Street Improvements) (T-008) was added following public safety concerns raised at a recent Council meeting." This is a great project to calm traffic, daylight AND HARDEN the intersection, and generally make the area more welcoming to pedestrians!
AB 413 on Caledonia: Prioritize Safety, Limit Liability. Under state law (AB 413), parking must be restricted within 20 feet of crosswalks to ensure pedestrian visibility. The City acknowledges in the staff report that delaying this exposes Sausalito to legal risk, especially given the documented pedestrian injury from a failure to yield at Caledonia and Turney.
We know swift action is possible: recently, a crosswalk near MLK Public School needed to be red-curbed to comply with AB413, and Public Works painted it in just 7 days without requiring a consultant or debate.
However, for Caledonia Street, the City is considering Alternative 3, which allocates $64,860 for a traffic consultant to analyze parking impacts before implementing the safety paint. Proceeding with this analysis will delay immediate, state-mandated safety improvements.
Support Alternative 2, Reject Alternative 3. Consider asking the Council to adopt Alternative 2. This option implements the safety paint immediately and adds back 8 parking spaces by restriping Pine Street with angled parking. It achieves the required safety goals and recovers parking without the need for a traffic study. I fully support a separate, design-led project for Caledonia Street's future, and it should not be used to delay common-sense safety paint today.
Do you care about safety in Sausalito? Let City Council know!
Please share your perspective with the City Council before Tuesday's meeting.
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Thank you all for your continued dedication to making Sausalito safer for everyone.
Best,
Kieran Culligan