Petaluma advisory committee reviews plans to narrow Caulfield Lane and add protected bike space on Eli Boulevard South

Petaluma city staff presented detailed plans and trade-offs for safety and pavement upgrades on Caulfield Lane and Eli Boulevard South, pitching lane reductions, protected or buffered bike lanes and intersection changes as tools to slow traffic and reduce severe crashes.

Bjorn, the city’s staff liaison, said the work is driven by safety metrics and grant requirements. “We are recommending lane reductions on both of these streets based on the average daily traffic figures,” he told the Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory Committee, citing tube counts and the Federal Highway Administration guidance that supports converting multi-lane arterials with under 18,000–20,000 vehicles per day. He told the committee the Caulfield project is a full paving reconstruction with a budget “in the $4,000,000 range,” while Eli is expected to be under $1,000,000 and will be a shorter slurry-seal and restriping job.

Committee members and the public focused discussion on specific design trade-offs. Staff recommended reducing Caulfield and Eli to one vehicle lane each direction in several long segments to remove opportunities for high-speed weaving and to free right-of-way for buffered or parking-protected bike lanes, median islands, and pedestrian refuge islands. The presentation cited recent tube counts for Caulfield that ranged from about 5,300 to 10,000 vehicles per day on the busiest sections and 80th-percentile speeds near 44 mph in the fastest segments.

Public commenters and committee members emphasized design speed, landscaping and transit connections. Amy Batchley, chair of the Climate Action Commission, said she supported the changes and thanked staff for aligning projects with the city’s climate and active-transportation goals: “All of the work that you're doing is really in support of the blueprint that the city has committed to,” she said. Pete Gang urged the project team to “pick a design speed” and use traffic-calming tools to make that speed clear to drivers; Veil Abrams, chair of the Transit Advisory Committee, asked staff to factor bus stops and transit connections into crossing improvements.

Committee members asked staff to: conduct parking studies where parking-protected bike lanes are proposed; prioritize vertical curbs or concrete bulb-outs where possible rather than paint alone; consider where sidewalks or additional street trees could be added during Caulfield’s full reconstruction; and check recycled-water availability for irrigation (staff said potable water will likely be used initially). On intersections, staff highlighted potential roundabouts at Saint Francis and the Caulfield–Eli junction, noting feasibility depends on geometry and freight routing.

Staff said the Caulfield project will support more permanent infrastructure (tree planting, concrete bulb-outs and stormwater features) because it is a full reconstruction, while Eli’s slurry-seal scope limits permanent changes and is intended as a quicker-build safety enhancement. Both projects are expected to proceed through design and additional community engagement; staff said they anticipate bringing the item to City Council in a couple of months and aim for construction in 2027.

What’s next: staff will incorporate the committee’s technical requests — parking studies, more precise cross-section continuity, and further definition of intersection geometry — into the next design phase, publish project updates on the city project webpage, and return to council for public review and possible award of construction contracts. The committee adjourned at 9:08 p.m.