Point San Pedro Road Keeps Its Lanes and Gives Up Curbside Parking

In the last week of August, a thin coat of asphalt and crushed rock covered roughly three miles of Point San Pedro Road, from San Rafael High School east to Biscayne Drive. Crews spent August 17–21 grinding off the old striping and prepping the surface. The slurry seal went down August 22–28. After that came two weeks of overnight pre-marking, which crews call "cat tracking," between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m.

The long lines went in September 14–18. That was the week the travel lanes got narrower.

The paint you've been driving over since then reflects a decision about how to divide a fixed amount of road width. This fall's project kept every travel lane and took space from two other places. Each lane lost a foot, and parked cars lost part of the curb. The biggest change for anyone who parks along the corridor still hasn't happened yet. It's set for the October 12–26 window.

A Fresh Surface Means the Road Can Be Redrawn

A resurfacing job is also when lanes and curb space get redivided. New pavement has to be restriped from curb to curb. Marin County Public Works Director Christopher Blunk called it "a clean slate from curb to curb" and a chance to rethink how that space serves everyone using the corridor.

The road's jurisdiction makes that harder than it sounds. The County's September 28 release says Point San Pedro Road crosses between City of San Rafael and County of Marin jurisdiction five times along the project corridor. A slide shown at the April open house put the count at six. Neither source says where the crossings are. The practical point is the same either way. If two agencies had restriped separately, a bike lane could start and stop at every jurisdiction line. The City and County built it as one continuous project instead.

The City's cooperative agreement sets the endpoints. The work starts at the western edge of San Rafael High School's parking lot on Third Street and ends at the eastern city limit, about 600 feet northeast of Biscayne Drive.

Where the Extra Room Came From

The lanes went from 12 feet to 11. Where the road is wide enough, the freed-up foot became a buffer between the bike lane and traffic. Narrower lanes alone don't make room for a continuous bike lane, though. On some stretches, the County removed on-street parking so the bike lane could carry through.

The design behind that came from a parking study by Iteris covering Point San Pedro Road from Embarcadero Way to Bayside Park. City staff presented it to San Rafael's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee on June 10, 2026, with the design at 65 percent. Staff said they were looking at filling the eastbound bike-lane gaps and creating a continuous westbound lane. They were also talking with San Pedro Elementary and nearby property owners about how parking would be affected.

At the April 17 open house, the planning materials recommended extending Class II bike lanes where there's little or no street parking. They also suggested looking at underused private lots at the west end and at Lowrie Yacht Harbor, and working with the school district on parking limits during drop-off and pick-up.

The Stretch That Changes Next

According to the Pt. San Pedro Road Coalition's October 1 update, signs go on posts from October 12 to 26. During that window, parking won't be allowed on Point San Pedro Road from Marina Boulevard to just west of Beech Drive, except for a section in front of San Pedro Elementary School. The update doesn't say which side of the road is affected or how many spaces. It also leaves open whether the whole no-parking stretch is permanent or partly tied to construction. The Coalition's own advice is to check the posted signs.

Here's the schedule as of today, October 4, based on the Coalition's update and the County release:

Crews moved the striping to daytime hours, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. The roads were too damp at night for paint to stick. If you usually drive the corridor midday on weekdays, expect flaggers through the rest of the month. The Coalition says the exact finish date depends on weather and field conditions. Questions go to the contractor, Graham Contractors, Inc., at (408) 293-9516.

The 2022 Plan Took Away a Lane

This fall's trade makes more sense next to the plan that came before it. In 2022, the City and County proposed a pilot that would have cut the eastbound lanes from two to one between Loch Lomond Drive and Riviera. It would have kept parking between Bayview and Main drives, including at Bayside Park. According to the Coalition, the City withdrew after reviewing community input, and the County suspended the pilot.

The 2026 project takes space from parking and lane width and leaves the number of lanes alone. Even so, the lane-count question hasn't gone away. At the June 2026 committee meeting, members asked whether the number of lanes past Loch Lomond could be reduced. They also asked whether the Bayside Park design options from June 2022 could be reconsidered.

Pressure for the bike lane was building through the spring. In correspondence to the committee dated April 21, local advocate Joe Mulligan said his petition for a continuous bike lane had 450 signatures. The same packet included 17 comments about close calls, conflicts with parked cars, fast traffic, and worries about children biking to school.

Supervisor Mary Sackett, who represents the area, made the same point when the County announced the work was nearly done:

"We know that students are biking to school, and we want to provide every opportunity for them to get there safely."

The County also says gaps in the bike lane remain in several places, and it doesn't list where. In June, committee members asked specifically about the gap in front of San Pedro Elementary and what limits a bike lane near Bayside Park. That's the same school frontage where parking now stays.

Heading East: What Changes Near the Places You Go

The changes show up differently depending on where you're headed. Going west to east:

1. Summit Avenue. A HAWK pedestrian signal, short for High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk, went in this summer.
2. Lowrie Yacht Harbor, 40 Point San Pedro Road. The 100-slip marina sits near the west end. The April open-house materials named it, along with underused private lots, as a place to look for parking.
3. Marina Boulevard to just west of Beech Drive. This is where parking ends once signs go up. The County is also replacing a retaining wall east of Marina Boulevard and expects to finish by the end of October.
4. Bayside Park, 882 Point San Pedro Road. The County lists this pocket park as having benches and limited roadside parking.
5. Loch Lomond. Andy's Local Market at 75 Loch Lomond Drive lists hours of 6:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Safe Harbor Loch Lomond, at 110 Loch Lomond Drive, has a boardwalk and a children's playscape. At the northwest corner of Loch Lomond Drive and Point San Pedro Road, the Planning Commission approved 14 condominiums at 25 Loch Lomond Drive on December 9, 2025.
6. Knight, Peacock and Riviera drives. Each gets rectangular rapid flashing beacons at its marked crosswalk, plus curb extensions and updated markings at select spots. A pedestrian pushes a button to start the lights. Last year, the Coalition's Roadway Committee chair said Knight Drive had general community agreement for a safer crosswalk with a pedestrian-activated signal.
7. Biscayne Drive and beyond. Peacock Gap Golf Club is at 333 Biscayne Drive, and its RangeCafe Bar and Grill is next door at 337. Past the project's east end, McNears Beach Park is 3.6 miles out Point San Pedro Road at 201 Cantera Way. Farther along the road, the County finished a landslide repair this year near Buckeye Point in China Camp.

Once the beacons and signs are up, everything on the County's announced list will be in place. The bike lane will be more continuous than it was in summer, with gaps the County hasn't located yet. The road will still have every lane it had before. And between Marina Boulevard and just west of Beech Drive, the curb will no longer be available for parking.

If the new curb rules have you wondering how they affect a home on or near Point San Pedro Road, Team O'Brien follows these changes along the peninsula and across San Rafael. Get your free home valuation or schedule a consultation, and we'll go over what this stretch of road means for your property.