MCL has reviewed and submitted comments on the Sir Francis Drake Blvd (SFDB) Rehabilitation Project Draft Environmental Impact Report and appendices. The report describes the environmental consequences of a project that would rehabilitate a 5.2 mile section of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard between Shafter Bridge and Platform Bridge Road about one mile west of the Town of Lagunitas.  The objectives are to restore badly degraded roadway pavement and to improve the alignment for the safety of pedestrians and bicycles in addition to automobile use of the roadway.

Three basic alternatives to the project are examined in the DEIR: (1) No Project, or no change in existing conditions (required by the California Environmental Quality Act [CEQA]); (2) Resurface Roadway Alternative: repavement of the road surface only; and (3) Mitigated Roadway Alternative: repavement, plus paving of a number of formal turnouts, construction of a 200-foot retaining wall for slope repair, and replacement of culverts and other drainage improvements.

An Option A, if implemented, would widen and/or realign several sections of roadway to improve sight distance.  No trees would be removed under the Resurface Roadway  Alternative, but other repairs would not be made.  The Mitigated Alternative, as designed, limits tree removal to three coast redwoods and five California bay trees.  Option A would require removing eight additional redwood trees and one coast live oak.  MCL has two major environmental concerns: first, and foremost, protecting the integrity of Lagunitas Creek habitat for the endangered coho salmon; and second, minimizing the removal of redwood trees that edge the roadway.  The DEIR provides generally adequate information to compare the impacts of these alternatives.

MCL is requesting that the Final EIR present more detailed information on the toxic characteristics of the proposed paving material – rubberized asphalt concrete (RAC).  MCL is also concerned that the DEIR underestimates the increase in volume and speed of traffic that may occur over the next twenty years. But most importantly, MCL disagrees with the DEIR's conclusion that all significant impacts have been mitigated to less-than-significant levels.

2010 Documents and Correspondence

• June 25, 2010 - MCL's comments on the Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Rehabilitation Project DEIR

1. Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Rehabilitation Project DEIR

• Sir Francis Drake Blvd. Rehabilitation Project Appendices