Next Bolinas Road Project to Begin September 12

For Immediate Release –

Marin County, CA –

$1.9M slide repair is next up in series of projects to improve 6.5 miles of road 

Starting September 12, the Marin County Department of Public Works (DPW) will begin construction on the next effort in a series of projects to repair damage, improve roadway resiliency and the overall condition of Bolinas Road, located outside of Fairfax.

The road is the emergency evacuation route for hundreds of homes and provides critical access for wildland firefighting, it also serves as the primary access to maintain a large water treatment facility that provides over one-third of Marin Water’s drinking water.

The project is designed to repair damages to a section of Bolinas Road in the vicinity of milepost 1.0, approximately 300 feet south of Fawn Ridge Road and just over a mile southwest of downtown Fairfax. The project includes building a 100-foot-long retaining wall near milepost 1.0, as well as reinforcing the existing adjacent 100-foot-long retaining wall.

The construction cost is estimated at $1.9 million and up to 88% is expected to be reimbursed by a Federal Highway Administration grant. The repair project is anticipated to be finished by the end of December.

For the duration of the project, traffic will be routed through a single lane with alternating two-way traffic control with limited exceptions. Construction work hours are planned for weekdays between 7 AM and 6 PM. Weekend work may be permitted as necessary and would be announced in advance to minimize inconvenience to residents and the traveling public.

Some construction activities are expected to require road closures of approximately four-hour intervals. Such instances will be kept to a minimum and will be coordinated with emergency services agencies, as well as announced to the public via the project website, DPW’s Facebook and X/Twitter accounts, and targeted notifications to the directly impacted residents.

Drivers and cyclists must adhere to all roadway laws, which include following the construction signage and traffic control measures. Traffic delays are planned to be limited to seven minutes. Active emergency service vehicles are always granted immediate access.

The March 2023 storms triggered multiple landslides and roadway damage along Bolinas Road. The damaged locations had been receiving repairs in order of urgency. However, the damage was significantly compounded by the state-declared disaster-level storms in February 2024, increasing the scope of the necessary repairs and moving up the timetable for the work.

The long-term solution for Bolinas Road is to fix and stabilize a 6.5 mile stretch of the roadway. That work is a joint undertaking by the County of Marin and the Town of Fairfax. The two agencies are seeking federal funding for the estimated $30 million needed to accomplish the project. In February 2024, Congressman Jared Huffman inspected the stretch of road with DPW and Town of Fairfax staff and is helping to pursue funding.

However, the long-term solution will take time to secure funding, design and implement, and some repairs to damaged locations cannot wait, such as the retaining wall project at milepost 1.0. In the interim, DPW staff is diligently monitoring the damaged locations and addressing them as needed to ensure public safety. The most recently completed projects along Bolinas Road have been at milepost 1.16 and 1.34. There is another retaining wall project underway at milepost 5.73, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2024.

The Town of Fairfax and DPW are collaborating on the considerable undertaking to make substantial improvements to Bolinas Road. The partner agencies would like to thank residents and travelers in the area for their patience and understanding while these important repair projects are conducted.