The Most Dangerous Mile in Marin (And How to Fix It…)

The following post first appeared at the Marin County Bicycle Coalition.

Alexander Avenue is the road that connects the Golden Gate Bridge to Sausalito and the rest of Marin. Despite serving as the gateway to the North Bay, and being ridden by thousands of people a day, the road poorly serves anyone traveling outside of a car. The wide car lanes encourage speeding, the roadway surface is badly maintained, and there are no dedicated bike lanes or sidewalks.

These shortcomings have real-world consequences. A 2022 study found that three intersections on the mile-long Alexander Avenue were among the top 10 most dangerous intersections for bicyclists in Marin County. When the Marin County Bicycle Coalition attempted to double-check these results, we found that the study undercounted the number of crashes. Between 2011 and 2020, at least 83 bicyclists were injured on the mile-long stretch of Alexander – one person hurt every six weeks. This rate dwarfs any other road in the county.

Unfortunately, some people see this situation as inevitable. When faced with these disturbing figures, stewards of our transportation system were quoted saying that these challenges are “inherent” or pointed out that the people crashing are tourists. We reject these notions. At MCBC we believe that any road can be made safe, and that we should make our streets usable by anyone who wants to ride, whether they bike every day or whether it’s been 30 years since they last got in the saddle.

WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT

We are petitioning the agency that manages this road, urging them to take action and fund a safety study to plan near-term and long-term improvements that will prevent future injuries.

Click here to sign the petition for a Greater Alexander

We are also seeking organizations to join this call. If you represent a group that would like to sign on to our letter (linked here), you can tell us in the petition above or email warren@marinbike.org. Whether you are a riding group, an environmental nonprofit, or a business, we would be happy to add your voice.

HOW TO STAY INVOLVED

MCBC facilitates a volunteer advocacy team focused on the Golden Gate Bridge and the roads that connect to it. We meet monthly on zoom and plan actions like this. If you want to join or are just curious about it, fill out the form here or sign up for our May meeting.

Supporters like you, who speak out for safer places to bike and give to MCBC, make projects like these possible.  Thank you!  Want to support this work? Give here. We’re working hard to ensure that there is always a full pipeline of projects in development so we can keep making Marin more bikeable every year.