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As Marin County revises its master plan for Tamalpais Junction, residents urged officials to not delay addressing safety risks caused by traffic.

“I think everybody who lives here is very concerned that somebody’s going to run across the highway and die,” said Katie Smith, a 20-year resident, referring to Shoreline Highway. “You see people running across with kids.”

“So things like the safety issues among pedestrians, and maybe emergency planning and traffic flow, those would be the things I would urge you to start with,” she said.

“I deal daily both walking and driving with kind of the craziness of that whole intersection,” said Sharon Nakatani. “When you describe what you’re looking for, for the consultant … I’m wondering if the selecting committee will prioritize what the community has already put forward?”

“Can this plan really be a vehicle to catalyze the kind of short-term, mid-term improvements?” said Don Bella.

The comments came on Aug. 5 during the county’s latest public forum ahead of the Tam Junction “placemaking study.” The sessions addressed priorities for consultants who will produce the study, which will be used to update the county’s plan for the unincorporated community.

The previous master plan, from 1992, prioritized maintaining the “semi-rural character,” limiting commercial development, preserving “wetland diversity” and improving roads to facilitate transit, a staff report said. Those policies led, for example, to a commercial core and neighborhoods with fewer sidewalks.

Since then, the community has become more suburban, residents have seen congestion increase on Shoreline Highway and periodic tidal flooding has cut off access to Highway 101. Caltrans has several projects in development, including replacing the Highway 1 bridge and pedestrian crossing at Coyote Creek.

The county also has approved 32 affordable apartments at 150 Shoreline Highway near the Highway 101 interchange, and designated another housing site at Peace Lutheran Church on Tennessee Valley Road. It also has plans to move and elevate the bike and pedestrian path linking Mill Valley and Sausalito.

Planning efforts and infrastructure upgrades typically unfold over several years. County officials said they have been trying to coordinate among departments and other governmental agencies. Part of that is seeking more public comments at the start of big projects like planning Tam Junction’s future.

“Community participation is a big part of the planning process that we’ll be using to look at what we can do to improve safety for all users along Tam Junction, as well as economic vitality and neighborhood connection and friendliness in the area,” said Marin County Supervisor Stephanie Moulton-Peters, launching the county’s presentation and discussion.

At two public sessions in April, county planners recorded more than 50 comments and suggestions, a staff report said.

Some were general and already integrated, such as expanding the study area, said Sahar Shirazi, a public works department planner. About half of the comments fell under the traffic-related umbrella and were wide ranging.

According to the staff report, the comments called for safer crosswalks, pedestrian and cycling paths; removing excessive signage; fixing and replacing the Coyote Creek bridge; better coordination with Caltrans; and improving public transit, including more options for schoolchildren.

Other suggestions included addressing needs of people with disabilities; pushing utilities to bury power and telecommunications lines; increasing parking options; and addressing flooding generally and on the multiuse path specifically.

The county parks department has proposed moving and elevating the Mill Valley-Sausalito multiuse path to “ring the marsh” by following Tam Junction’s eastern shoreline.

“We know there’s a lot going on in this area,” Shirazi said. “But essentially, there is a big concern, a lot of concern, around safety.”

“Not the only concern, but a big one, is along Shoreline Highway, which is already constrained, already congested,” Shirazi said. “There aren’t great bicycle and pedestrian facilities, so it doesn’t feel safe. It doesn’t feel accessible. There’s flooding and drainage issues along the entire corridor. There’s barriers and gaps for ADA accessibility.”

“There’s questions around parking need and parking demand,” she said. “All of these things cause problems for emergency access, both ingress and egress. And then we’ve heard a lot about the aesthetics as well — the signage, the visual clutter, and thinking about how to bring that together a bit more.”

Some longtime residents, like Ariana Hiscott, urged county planners to push for short-term solutions in addition to formulating longer-term plans.

“I do care a lot about the pedestrian crossing right at the town junction,” she said. “I feel like we do actually take our lives into our hands trying to use the crosswalk because the cars turning right are always trying to sneak into traffic.”

Itay Friedman, an architect who is chair of the Tam Design Review Board, thanked the county for the forum but urged it to focus on remedies that can be implemented.

“What I’d love to hear is more about how the team is thinking about the bridge between the study’s eventual recommendations and how those recommendations actually get implemented,” he said. “I believe a successful placemaking study, one that stays true to the community plan that it builds from, should produce recommendations that can be implemented and funded, rather than remain on a conceptual level.”