Roads in Marin

Roads in Marin County are maintained and regulated by a variety of responsible entities. Generally, State highways are maintained and regulated by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans). Roads within Federal or State park boundaries are generally the responsibility of the respective Federal/State park agency. The remaining roads within Marin County are either maintained by the County, local municipalities, or private property owners.  For information on the various jurisdictions, please see the jurisdictions of Marin resource page or scroll to the bottom of this page for abridged information.

All roads over which the public has a right to travel, whether express or prescriptive, are “public roads." However, “public roads” are not "County maintained” roads until accepted as such by appropriate action by the Board of Supervisors for the County of Marin. The general rule is that a County may not use County road funds for maintaining “public roads” other than those designated as “County maintained” roads. 

County-maintained roads

The Marin County Department of Public Works maintains the County-maintained roads system, which consists of approximately 420 miles of roadway. General maintenance activities include road surface maintenance, patching, shoulder repairs, tree removal, clearing roadside debris, active storm patrol, post-storm cleanup, mowing of roadside vegetation, and upkeep of roadway striping and signage. A “County-maintained” road is a public road within the unincorporated area of Marin County that has been accepted by the County of Marin Board of Supervisors into the County-maintained roads system. A county has no statutory duty to maintain public roads that have not been accepted into the county road system.

In rare situations, a County road can be “vacated” from the County road system, meaning that it returns to its prior/original status or another designated status, and is no longer maintained by the County. The process requires action by the County of Marin Board of Supervisors. One of the most recent occurrences was when Marin Drive in unincorporated Mill Valley was removed from the County road system in 2010.

Non-county maintained roads

A “non-County maintained road” is generally a road within the unincorporated area of Marin County that was either never offered for dedication to public use, or was offered for dedication but was not accepted by the County of Marin Board of Supervisors. Maintenance of these roads is most often the responsibility of the private landowners abutting/benefiting from these roads, but there can be situations where the Homeowners Association (HOA) or other private entities have accepted the maintenance responsibilities.

City streets

A “city street” is a public road within a city/town municipal boundary that has been accepted by the governing body into the city/town street system.  A city/town has no statutory duty to maintain public roads that have not been accepted into the city street system.

A “private” road is a road constructed on private property and not offered for dedication for public use. Maintenance and regulation of these roads is most often the responsibility of the landowners that benefit from these roads.  

If standards can be met and improvements made by the adjacent landowners, a private road (non-County-maintained road) can be considered for inclusion into the County-maintained road system with a recommendation by the Director of Public Works and approval by the Board of Supervisors.  However, the roadway is required to comply with the standards in Title 24 of the Marin County municipal code. It is rare to have a private road accepted into County-maintained roads system. There has not been instance of this happening in over 20 years, which is largely due to the monetary investment necessary to bring a road up to the required standards and the requirement for all property owners to agree the change. 

To learn more about Title 24, visit the online Municipal Code library. 

Under Title 24, please see the applicable standards found in the following sections: 

• Title 24, I. Roads 

• Title 24, IV. Sidewalks and Pedestrian Paths 

• Title 24, VI. Drainage Facilities 

• Title 24, IX. Utilities 

• Title 24, Chapter 24.05 – Easements 

• Title 24, Chapter 24.10 – Improvement Plans 

Aside from pursuing the action of converting a private road to a County-maintained road, landowners may want to consider a Permanent Road Division (PRD). A PRD provides property owners with a mechanism to help pay for private road improvements. Information on the PRD program can be found online.  

The term “paper street” usually means a road or alley dedicated on a subdivision map but was never opened or developed.  Thus, it exists only on “paper” (i.e. on maps). The County of Marin does not maintain “paper streets” unless they have been accepted by the Board of Supervisors. Depending on how the paper street was created and how the abutting property owner owns their parcel, the abutting property owner may “own” the “street” to the center of the road. Therefore, trees/vegetation and other conditions on the "paper street" are most often the maintenance responsibility of the abutting property owners.  

Still have questions?

Determining the status of roads can be a complicated research effort. The Marin County Public Works' Land Development Division can provide information regarding County-maintained roads. For questions regarding roads that are not County-maintained, please consult a title company or land use attorney.