Choke points would abound in an emergency evacuation of West Marin. In Inverness, the problem is Sir Francis Drake Boulevard. In Bolinas, it’s Mesa and Olema-Bolinas Roads. And for the entire coast, any of the over-the-hill routes—through the San Geronimo Valley, past Nicasio or around Mount Tamalpais—would become congested if thousands of people were trying to leave at once.
Despite
this threat to public safety, nobody in Marin is taking responsibility to plan
for evacuation, according to a Marin County Civil Grand Jury report issued last
month. The 19-member watchdog group calls on the Transportation Authority of
Marin to step up and include evacuation as one of its criteria when planning or
funding projects. The grand jury also urges public works departments of cities,
towns and the county to prioritize evacuation, and argues that these governing
bodies should address evacuation infrastructure needs as they update their
general plans.
The
Woodward Fire heightened anxiety around evacuation and prompted the grand jury
to revisit the issue. Bolinas resident B.G. Bates fled the blaze despite it
being miles away, because she feared a collective rush to leave town. “Once you
get to Mesa Road, there are several places where the trees come up on both side
and meet in the canopy,” she said. “It’s beautiful, but that’s not where you
want to get caught. I think about it all the time: What are my solutions? It
depends on which way the fire is coming from, I guess.”
Inverness
resident Francine Allen is particularly worried about having to evacuate at the
same time as thousands of visitors to the Point Reyes National Seashore. “It’s
something I’ve been concerned about for a long time, and nobody seems to be
thinking about it. It just hasn’t gotten any traction anywhere,” she said.
Preparing
for an evacuation involves many interconnected components: educating the
public, cutting back vegetation, improving mapping and signage, designating
refuge centers and executing the evacuation during emergencies, along with
actually building and improving the infrastructure to support a mass
evacuation. The barriers to improving evacuation outcomes are both physical and
political.
“In
interviews with the grand jury, many officials expressed reluctance to take on
these specific evacuation infrastructure challenges because of the enormous
costs, potential litigation, environmental complexities, neighborhood
resistance, and lack of authority,” the report states. “Furthermore, it is not
clear who has responsibility for addressing this critical need. Nevertheless,
the dire consequences of failing to address this challenge could result in a
catastrophe that far outweighs the cost of improving our roads to support mass
evacuation.”
Some
public works directors told the grand jury that they believe first responders
are in charge of plans, but law enforcement officers said they focus on
evacuation only during active emergencies. Other elected officials anticipate
that the new Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority will handle planning, but the scope
of its work is limited and does not include infrastructure improvements. The
Transportation Authority of Marin has denied that it has any role or
responsibility for considering evacuation needs in its transportation projects,
but the grand jury disagrees.
The
transportation authority was established in 2004 as Marin’s congestion
management agency, required by state law in every county. Funded by grants, a
half-cent sales tax and a $10 vehicle registration fee, the authority is tasked
with coordinating roughly $40 million in annual funding for a multitude of
transportation projects, from improving routes to schools to widening the
highway, all with the goal of improving mobility.
The
agency was chartered when traffic was high on Marin’s priority list and
wildfire evacuation was a remote concern. But times have changed, and the
agency hasn’t changed with them.
The
jury first looked at evacuation routes in 2019 and made the initial call for
the authority to prioritize evacuation projects and require that every proposed
project consider its impact on mass evacuation. At the time, the authority
responded that it “is a funding agency and does not set local policy.” But the
grand jury argues that the authority is ideally positioned for the task, as the
only entity with countywide authority over transportation projects. Because its
board is broadly representative of Marin’s jurisdictions, it can support large
cross-jurisdictional projects along Marin’s major evacuation routes.
“Contrary
to its previous responses to the grand jury, the Transportation Authority of
Marin is not precluded or constrained from incorporating evacuation planning
needs as a criterion in its infrastructure projects. The Transportation
Authority of Marin’s decision-making process is inadequate unless it includes
evacuation as a criterion when funding improvements,” the grand jury found.
Supervisor
Dennis Rodoni, who sits on the transportation authority board, believes that
both the authority and departments of public works should revise their policies
to look at evacuation when funding projects. “I think it’s a good idea, and
it’s something they should do with all of their projects,” he said.
The
transportation authority wouldn’t work alone. The Marin Wildfire Prevention
Authority, composed of 17 fire agencies, was established last year and has a
nearly $20 million annual budget. The agency has allocated $1 million for a
traffic study of evacuation routes this year, a first step in identifying
problem areas. The agency will also fund major vegetation management projects
along evacuation routes and create evacuation route maps, but it does not have
the ability or the funding for major infrastructure improvements, such as
widening roads. Thus, the transportation authority should work with firefighters,
and a transportation representative should serve on the wildfire prevention
authority’s advisory and technical committee, the grand jury argued.
The
buck ultimately stops with the Board of Supervisors. The jury calls on the
board to adopt a resolution urging the transportation authority to consider
evacuation needs in public works projects, and for the county to update the
safety elements of its general plan this year to include evacuation planning.
Each agency has until March 14 to respond.
Point
Reyes Light
By Braden Cartwright
January 6, 2021
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