Marin Readies For Sir Francis Drake Boulevard Street Lighting Project

MARIN COUNTY, CA — A Marin public street lighting project is about to get underway.

Crews are expected to start work on the Sir Francis Drake Boulevard street lighting project next week, county officials said.

The project, which is overseen by the Marin County Department of Public, aims to reduce light dispersal on adjacent properties, decrease intensity and improve the light aesthetic while maintaining lighting uniformity levels necessary for safety.

Traffic impacts are expected to be minimal, but some lane closures during peak commute hours may cause delays.

A 500-foot stretch of one eastbound lane on Drake Boulevard will be closed for the duration of Phase 1.

Traffic is expected to flow normally through the other two lanes, but during the first week of August, there will be an additional lane closure of a westbound lane for two days to ensure crew safety during some initial work on several poles.

The work starting next week will be the first phase of the project and will focus on structural foundations and wiring connections.

This phase is expected to take about one month to complete, finishing in time to avoid the influx in traffic expected when the school year starts in late August.

Lighting poles and fixtures in the medians will be replaced along approximately one third of the SFDB corridor with shorter, decorative poles and dimmer fixtures.

The shorter poles require closer spacing to sufficiently and uniformly light the roadway, resulting in a net increase in total street lights with a net decrease of light dispersal into adjacent properties.

To reduce additional cost, the placement of these decorative poles will reuse light foundations already installed to the extent possible.

The majority of light fixtures on the remaining two thirds of the project corridor, excluding intersection safety lighting, were replaced in June 2022 with different fixtures that are dimmer and cast less light outside of the roadway and sidewalks.

In addition, backlight shields were installed on sidewalk light poles to further minimize light spill into neighboring yards.

The street light revisions are being funded by the remaining budget of the Upgrade the Drake project and the Marin County Street Light Fund. To further offset the cost, DPW will explore resell opportunities for the currently installed street light poles, which are a standard pole design used across California.

Learn more about the lighting project, as well as the separate landscaping improvements along Drake Boulevard and all the other various DPW projects, by visiting DPW’s projects webpage.