The Traffic Engineering division has been busy timing, observing, and re-timing the traffic signals in Central San Rafael. First, was Third Street. Third Street has its challenges, from a troublesome signal controller at Lootens Place to a short-protected left-turn phase at A Street. After troubleshooting and making changes to offsets, travel time has not decreased...
On Tuesday, July 20th, the new traffic signal at Lucas Valley Road/Los Gamos Road was turned on in anticipation of the opening of the new Kaiser medical offices on Los Gamos Road. Kaiser is certainly happy to be at this point, as it took a few years to work through the Caltrans approval process since...
Streets division staff recently conducted a cleanup of the ditch located on Freitas Parkway. Pictured in the photo is Streets staff member, Kenny Gatlin, using an excavator to remove the build up from the ditch.
Here the Streets division staff added ladders to an existing crosswalk to make it more visible for drivers and pedestrians. They also added All Way Stop Sign placards to the stop sign poles. Streets division staff also added ladders to D Street and Via Sessi to increase visibility of the crosswalk. Members of the Streets...
Parks division staff have been busy working on pruning medians. In these photos they are cutting back the shrubs along the Devon Drive median. Pictured below are Camilo Bayot and Rene Ramos pruning the medians:
The Department of Public Works recently acquired a new 2021 Xtreme Leaf Vacuum for our Maintenance divisions. The leaf vacuum is a versatile tool that can be used to aid in picking up dried grass clippings, leaves or dirt from sidewalks and parks quickly and effectively. The leaf vacuum will mainly be used for picking...
The objective of the Spinnaker Point Parking Modification project is to create additional parking in a high demand area of East San Rafael. Parking will be added by converting the on-street parallel parking into angled parking along the north side of Spinnaker Point Drive, next to the Albert J. Boro Community Center. At the August...
Join the team of crossing guards in Marin County and protect the safety of our children as they bike and walk to and from school. Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) is working with the Crossing Guard management firm, All City Management Services, to hire dedicated individuals to take part in this critical public safety role....
On Tuesday, July 20, the new traffic signal at Lucas Valley Road/Los Gamos Road was turned on in anticipation of the opening of the new Kaiser medical offices on Los Gamos Road. Kaiser is certainly happy to be at this point, as it took a few years to work through the Caltrans approval process since...
The final product is starting to take shape on the Southern Heights Bridge project as the bridge deck was successfully poured on July 1st. There is still plenty of work remaining including installation of the bridge railing, construction of the approach slabs, paving, hydroseeding, bridge lighting, and many smaller items. The City is working with...
The Department of Public Works will be resurfacing Bungalow Avenue from Woodland Avenue to La Loma Court late September. These improvements are part of the City’s Street Resurfacing and are funded through gas tax. Our project will follow the Sanitation District’s (SRSD) sewer main replacement project along Woodland Ave. Their project has begun and will...
The City’s contractor Team Ghilotti, Inc., has completed the accessible curb ramp, sidewalk, curb and gutter and roadway improvements at several locations around the Canal Neighborhood. Team Ghilotti is waiting on long lead electrical equipment including, new streetlights and Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacons (RRFB) that will be installed at seven locations in the Canal Neighborhood...
The Francisco Blvd East Sidewalk project is almost complete! Next week the contractor will be removing the traffic control that has been blocking off a portion of the street during construction. The final steps are to finish installing the new streetlights, remove the old lights, finish a few remaining sidewalk sections, and finish the installation...
The engineering team in Public Works recently welcomed new fixed term Junior Engineer Alysia Reyes and Dean Allison intern Justin Lin. Alysia came to us after interning for the City of San Jose Department of Transportation for over two years. Her experience in pavement and curb ramp projects will be a great addition to the...
To keep vehicles running at their best, it is important to keep up with routine maintenance as well as inspections and safety checks. The Vehicle Maintenance staff does a great job of keeping on top of these necessary repairs to ensure City vehicles remain safe and in good operating condition. In the photo, Garage tech...
The Streets division continues to stay busy with normal duties such as pothole repair and paint/sign maintenance. They have also been involved in special projects such as the cleaning and fencing of the areas under the viaduct as well as the setup of the safe sleeping site. One project they have tackled recently is the...
Parks Division staff have been very busy lately with the yearly pruning of the Terra Linda medians. In the photos you will see Parks Division crew members Jorge Hernandez, Rene Ramos, Valente Curiel, Alfredo Tellez as well as a contracted labor crew making quick work of the pruning along Manuel T. Freitas. Since a lot...
Sand wasps are currently in the parks as part of their natural seasonal cycle. Sand wasps can be seen in and around level, sandy areas July through mid-August. The sand in the playground area at the parks is a favored location for Sand Wasp nesting. They dig tunnels to create single egg nest chambers which...
The Department of Public Works completed an assessment to make Fourth Street/F Street an all-way stop controlled intersection. This is the intersection with The Kitchen Table, Dharma Trading Company, and Seawood Photo on the corners. STOP signs were added on Fourth Street on Friday July 23, creating an All-way Stop, to better accommodate pedestrians crossing...
From Sunday, July 25 at 8 pm to Monday, July 26 at 6 am, PG&E will be starting night work at 1125 Lincoln Ave from. They will be replacing an electric transmission tower. Motorists are advised to drive with caution and follow all posted directional signs. Traffic advisories and detour routing options will be utilized...
The Department of Public Works (DPW) will be resurfacing Bungalow Avenue from Woodland Avenue to La Loma Court late September. These improvements are part of the City’s Street Resurfacing and are funded through the gas tax fund. DPW's project will follow the Sanitation District’s (SRSD) project. SRSD is replacing their sewer main along Woodland Ave....
The public meeting for the Spinnaker Point Drive Parking Modification project will not be held on Monday, July 19th. Instead, the meeting has been postponed to the following City Council meeting on Monday, August 2nd at 7 pm. The purpose of this hearing will be to adopt the Mitigated Negative Declaration and accept the concept...
Starting Monday, July 19, the City's contractor, Wilhelm LLC, will be preforming tree work along PG&E powerlines at the locations listed below. Work will commence at 8 am on Monday morning and is expected to last about a week. Traffic control will be in place. Please follow all directional signals and traverse with caution. List...
The Department of Public Works has completed an assessment of the intersection of Fourth Street and F Street in the West End; the intersection with The Kitchen Table, Dharma Trading Company, and Seawood Photo on the corners. STOP signs will be added on Fourth Street, creating an All-way Stop, to better accommodate pedestrians crossing Fourth...
Read the full letter sent on July 2, 2021 On July 2, 2021 the City sent a letter to all San Rafael Channel (Canal) waterfront property owners with an update on dredging and the Umbrella Permitting process, given that the Channel was now awarded $6,75m towards dredging in the 2022 President's budget. A link to...
On the July 6, 2021 City Council meeting, City staff, the City's consultant, Barry Miller, and the Transportation Authority of Marin (TAM) presented a presentation of the potential guiding principles representing San Rafael's interests in the TAM study of alternative alignments for the Northbound US-101 to Eastbound I-580 Direct Connector project. Currently, drivers who wish...
The Parks Division crews continue their efforts to further beautify the City with their ongoing vegetation pruning work in Terra Linda with work being done along Freitas Parkway. Once this work is completed, they will move to the Monticello Rd. area. Here you see Parks Division crew members Matt Scales, Camilo Bayot and Jorge Hernandez...
Last year, two projects added close to 140 trees along McInnis Parkway to the City’s watering schedule whereas a normal year adds about 25 - 30 trees to the schedule. With the addition of DPW’s new water tanker, we are able to keep up with the increased demand and helps to give the trees a...
(The photo is for illustration only. Actual building design in progress) Contact: A. Fabiola Guillen-Urfer, Sr. Project Manager – Public Works Did you know that lumber prices were up more than 180% since spring of 2020? The construction industry has not experienced such dramatic material cost increases in years. The exponential increase in lumber...
Please welcome Public Works’ new Office Aide, Nataly Torres! Nataly was born and raised in the Bay Area and attended K-12 in San Rafael. She then went on and obtained her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of San Francisco where she graduated magna cum laude. in San Rafael. During school and after...
