Ask the PAC: Petaluma Boulevard South to start its diet this fall

First came an Ask the PAC question about Petaluma’s aging highway welcome signs. This week’s query centers on the city’s southern gateway – Petaluma Boulevard South.

I’m starting to sense a theme: Petalumans care about first impressions.

For residents eager to see progress on any and all fronts, those first impressions can seem to arrive fashionably late. But signs – pun intended – point to a city that will soon be ready for its close up.

Read on to find out how work is going Petaluma’s southern flank.

Question: Petaluma Boulevard South has been under construction for months. Even before the construction started, the section from downtown to Highway 101 was in miserable condition. Is this going to be completely repaved? Or is there another plan in the works?

Answer: City officials are well aware of the problems with Petaluma Boulevard South, the city’s southern gateway and the original Highway 101 in this area, and they say a simple surface treatment won’t be enough to fix the road’s problems.

“It is time for a complete reconstruction and reconfiguration,” said Jason Beatty, Petaluma Public Works director.

As with most major infrastructure projects, such work takes time. The city obtained a $3.2 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission in 2017, and that money will finally come available in October. Construction is expected to begin in the fall.

In the ensuing years, Beatty said city staff have conducted robust public outreach, completed design work and undertaken a number of utility repair projects beneath the roadway, including sewer main replacement, storm drain improvements, coordination with PG&E on gas main replacement and an ongoing water main replacement project.

Now for the fun stuff: what’s coming. Plans call for a reimagined - and slimmed down - 1.1-mile stretch of Petaluma Boulevard South that welcomes visitors and residents alike with a nod to city values. The project, known by city officials as the “Petaluma Boulevard South Road Diet,” reduces vehicle lanes while bolstering pedestrian and bicycle safety measures such as curb extensions at uncontrolled intersections, ADA-compliant curb ramps and sidewalk repairs, as well as long stretches of buffered bike lanes along the route.

“With this project, this gateway into Petaluma will be transformed with the safety, mobility, and access enhancement for all road users,” Beatty said in an email.

The work will also provide an important linkage for the SMART multi-use pathway, Beatty said, and for vehicle-centric travelers, a center turn lane adds important utility to the roadway.

Finally, signals along the newly constructed route will be modernized with new fiber interconnect to link the three intersections into the rest of the system, allowing those points to communicate with the city’s central traffic management system, Beatty said. And new traffic detection cameras will have enhanced bike detection capabilities, another piece of the safety puzzle city officials are touting.

For more information about this project or other Petaluma capital improvement projects, go to cityofpetaluma.org/capital-improvements-program.