Sections of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and Point Reyes-Petaluma Road are lined up to be resurfaced and receive other safety upgrades now that a contract has been authorized between the Marin County Department of Public Works and a North Bay construction firm.

Ghilotti Construction Co. of Santa Rosa will receive $2,049,895.50 from the County's Road and Bridge Rehabilitation Fund to improve 3.74 lane miles (both directions) of Drake Boulevard through the San Geronimo Valley and 1.38 lane miles of Point Reyes-Petaluma Road near Nicasio Reservoir. Awarding of the contract was authorized on July 28, and the money will not affect the County's General Fund. Engineers supervising the project expect work to start in mid-August and be completed by late November. As part of the County's annual road rehabilitation program, those stretches of pavement will be have base failures repaired, drainage improved, retaining walls installed, fresh striping painted and other pavement markings added. In addition, the Point Reyes-Petaluma Road project includes shoulder widening for bicyclists.

The Drake Boulevard upgrades will take place on a flat stretch between San Geronimo Valley Drive and Nicasio Valley Road near the San Geronimo Golf Course. The Point Reyes-Petaluma Road upgrades will take place on a hilly stretch just northwest of Nicasio Reservoir toward Hicks Valley in an area known as Rocky Hill. The western region roads project is the fourth and final major project of the calendar year, following previous upgrades approved in the southern, central and northern regions of the county. The projects demonstrate the County government's ongoing commitment to providing safe transportation routes to its residents. The Marin County Board of Supervisors repeatedly has pointed to paving projects and other infrastructure improvements has a high public service priority for the County government.

Since 2006, DPW has resurfaced about 50 percent of its roads – 423 lane miles out of 845 lane miles in the maintained network. In that same timeframe, the County's Pavement Condition Index, a rating that denotes the quality of roads, increased from 50 to 60, bringing it out of the "at-risk" category. To advance toward an overall "good" road condition score of 70, DPW proposes to resurface another 31 percent of its most-used roads (261 lane miles) before 2020. Construction on Drake Boulevard and Point Reyes-Petaluma Road will take place during daylight hours with traffic control measures in place. During construction, crews ask that drivers, cyclists and pedestrians slow down in the area and adhere to detours or pauses in traffic flow.