PUBLIC ACCESS SCOPING REPORT
June2020
WHAT
SR37 Public Access Scoping Report identifies the current state of public access within the San Pablo Baylands, including facilities for trails, developed park and open space, hunting, and water recreation, and recommend alternatives that could lead to a comprehensive, interconnected system over time. The Report will be organized to provide specific scoping direction for use in the SR37 Environmental Review and Project Approval (PA/ED) phase and include near-term implementation recommendations. This study will also expand awareness of adaptation and resilience considerations and multi-beneficial public access opportunities within and leading to the San Pablo Baylands. Read more below
WHATS ON GROUND TODAY
The team has worked with all the stakeholders over the period of last few months to bring together all existing and proposed access on one map.
BACKGROUND
Caltrans initiated study of SR37 mobility improvements, beginning with a Phase 1 UC Davis Stewardship Study in 2012, followed by a Caltrans Transit Concept Report in 2015, and a 2nd phase of the UC Stewardship Study, entitled State Route 37 Integrated Traffic, infrastructure and Sea Level Rise Analysis in 2016.
In 2015, the countywide transportation planning agencies in Solano, Napa, Sonoma, and Marin counties signed an MOU that committed them to work cooperatively on SR37 improvements and established a 12 person 4-County Policy Committee, with 3 representatives from each county. Also, in 2015, in fulfillment of requirements established by SB849, MTC, ABAG, BAAQMD, and BCDC formed the Bay Area Regional Collaborative (BARC) to address cross-cutting issues of regional significance.
In 2016, The 4-County Policy Committee in partnership with MTC authorized a two-phase Design Alternatives Assessment (DAA). The 1st phase evaluated the entire corridor between U.S. 101 and I-580. In 2017, MTC agreed to lead the 2nd phase of the DAA, which focuses on Segment B, including preparation of a Caltrans Project Initiation Document (PID) for that section. The PID is expected to be completed by early 2019.
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The entire DAA is supported by an SR37 Project Management Team (SR37 PMT) comprised of staff from the four county transportation agencies, Caltrans, and MTC. In addition, a Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), comprised of 4-County transportation agency staffs, consultant representatives, non-governmental scientists, and federal and state agencies’ staff meet at key intervals to review work done by Project consultants. A larger Stakeholder Committee (SC), comprised of federal and state regulatory agencies’ staff, non-governmental agency staffs, and user group representatives, provides additional review and input.
In 2018, on behalf of BARC, MTC, submitted a successful a Caltrans SB1 Climate Adaptation grant application to further advance concepts developed during the Resilient by Design Challenge (RBD). An SB1 Project Management Team (SB1PMT) with representation from each BARC agency, plus the California State Coastal Conservancy (SCC), and Caltrans selected 3 RBD sites for further study, and allocated $200,000 to advance public access within the San Pablo Baylands, based on concepts identified by the Common Ground team during the RBD Challenge.
The PMT assigned BARC responsibility to administer and support the work, and authorized BARC to contract with a team led by TLS Landscape Architecture to perform the work. Scoping of the contract tasks will be reviewed and approved by the SB1PMT after review and comment from the SR37 PMT.
NEAR TERM VISIONS
