Comments on: Alto Tunnel Workshop Draws Standing-Room-Only Crowd

By: David M.

David M. — Sat, 12 Sep 2009 21:16:37 +0000

It is important to remeber that the old railroad right of way has already been paved from Sausalito almost to the south portal of the Alto Tunnel. North of the tunnel, the old rail line has been paved to greenbrae and more importantly, down to Wornum Drive in Corte Madera (the Sandra Marker Trail to the Corte Maderea DMV office).

Now that the Cal Park Tunnel is almost finished, we will have a multi-use, relativley flat and safe path from the San Rafel Transportaion hub all the way to Sausalito EXCEPT for the bottleneck at the closed Alto Tunnel!

This is my open bet: Anyone who suggest that the detour down Tamalpais Drive up and over Horse Hill and then double back down E. Blithedale HAS NEVER EVER EVER TAKEN THEIR BIKE OVER HORSE HILL. The Horse Hill route from Marin Joes to the freeway path is substantially steeper than Corte Madera Avenue. Non-cycclists just don’t get it because they view the Horse Hill path from their cars while driving down the freeway.

By: Sprague

Sprague — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:02:24 +0000

Although it is a great shame that trains no longer can operate on that route, resurrecting the tunnel for bicyclists and pedestrians will provide the first feasible (ie. not steep) connection between Mill Valley and Corte Madera for many of these non-motorized travellers. It is worth noting that there are several small housing developments near the southern end of the tunnel that serve seniors and/or persons with disabilities and, for the wheelchair users amongst them, this tunnel also offers them a new route to travel north.

By: Jamison Wieser

Jamison Wieser — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:50:48 +0000

South of the tunnel, the right of way has already been converted to a pestrian/bike path. In fact, that trail pretty much dead ends at Blithesdale and cyclists are on the street from there.

By: zack

zack — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 17:35:55 +0000

I attended the meeting> I’m a huge fan of opening the tunnel, but thought the discussion was good on both sides of the arguement. I was impressed that it didn’t devolve into a shouting match given the passions on both sides. I think the tunnel detractors do have some good points, but that their concerns can be addressed. For me, the valid points are concerns about speed of bike traffic through the tunnel and around the elementary school which sits very close to southern end of the tunnel. The bike path between Mill Valley and Sausalito gets tons of bike traffic as is and in my opinion is bumping up its carrying capacity at a busy weekend day. I think most recreational road bikers would tear through the tunnel moving pretty fast – if you’ve got walkers, kids, strollers, dogs, etc.. in a confined space there could be some issues. I think that could be successfully mitigated in several ways though.

The benefits of opening the tunnel are huge. That bike path sees all kinds of traffic – local errands, recreaters, tourists, kids, elderly. Connecting Mill Valley and Corte Madera through an easy to use path would allow people to actually avoid using their cars for a lot of common errands and trips.

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:09:05 +0000

Peter, Wow. That video — deja f***ing vu. Incredible actually.

‘This is not a transportation corridor’…. Um, actually I think it is. Same outmoded arguments. NIMBY’ism, anti-bike sentiment from the automotive public, and rampant hit-and-run (car on bike/ped) crashes just seem to go together with California like avacados, suburban sprawl, and proposition-based voting.

By: Jeffrey W. Baker

Jeffrey W. Baker — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:35:40 +0000

Peter:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=http:%2F%2Foctothorpe.barelyconnected.net%2F~jwb%2FTunnel.kmz&ie=UTF8&ll=37.909872,-122.526226&spn=0.063181,0.070982&t=p&z=14

The northern portal is appropriately enough on Tunnel Ln.

By: murphstahoe

murphstahoe — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 00:29:54 +0000

Rail in that tunnel would be a train to nowhere… i doubt the tracks still exist on either side…

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:56:54 +0000

wanted to add that Horse Hill can just be extremely unpleasant for walkers and bikers. it’s so loud (from the cars/trucks/buses/etc.) that you can’t even hear yourself think. we deserve better.

i also found this cool old-school video of the tunnel — looks like it’s from at least 10 years ago:

http://www.marinnostalgia.org/altotunnel.html

if anyone can pinpoint the tunnel on a map, i’d love to see where it is. i tried to follow it on Google Maps, but I always seems to lose it. i’d like to do a My Map of the route.

By: Peter

Peter — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:31:32 +0000

i’m curious what the rail folks might think of this tunnel project. i’m assuming there’s not room for a train and walkers and bikers.

i’d also be curious to see a simulation of what a tunnel could look like. wonder if Google Sketchup could handle it?