Point San Quentin: North Bay transportation hub?
By F. Weston Starratt, P.E.
Published: January, 2001
Talk to Marin County Supervisor Steve Kinsey, and you become convinced that the North Bay’s original transportation hub will become the area’s future transportation hub. Kinsey envisions a "world class transit center" at Point San Quentin, with
» High-speed ferries to San Francisco and destinations throughout the Bay;
» Rail connections to San Rafael and then north on the Northwestern Pacific right-of-way to Novato, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, and beyond;
» Express bus service along the Highway 101 corridor and across the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge to points in the East Bay and connections to BART; and
» Parking and improved freeway connections.
To Supervisor Kinsey, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
It sounds impressive, and, in a way, reflects back almost 150 years to a time when water transportation was the only reliable means of getting around in the Bay Area, and when promontories such as Point San Quentin became stopping points for ferries and river steamers. So it was, that San Quentin became the gateway to the outside world for the residents of the little town of San Rafael as early as 1855. Later, a toll road was built from San Rafael across the marsh to connect with boats at San Quentin landing. It was followed in 1870 by the 3 ½-mile-long San Rafael & San Quentin Railroad which had one locomotive and one passenger car. An historian of the day wrote, "we … step into an elegant car, and in eight or ten minutes step off the car onto the steamer." Several years later, the North Coast Railroad reached San Rafael, gobbled up the little railroad, and established its own scheduled ferry service from San Quentin to San Francisco. That service continued until a fire destroyed the wharf at San Quentin.
But, in 1916 Point San Quentin once more became a transportation hub with the establishment of automobile ferry service to Richmond. Initially, it operated from the rebuilt wharf at San Quentin landing. Later, the ferry operator built a new terminal on a nearby site, and operated service until the completion of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge in 1956. Thus, Point San Quentin has always been a transportation hub for Marin County and continues so today with the freeway connection to the bridge.
Steve Kinsey’s vision of a future transportation hub at Point San Quentin is shared by others in Marin County, but there are countless problems to be solved. To begin with, the site for the old ferry landing is now occupied by the bridge, and the automobile ferry terminal is now rotting in the mud in an inaccessible location north of the bridge. That leaves the grounds of San Quentin Prison as the only site for the hub.
Established in 1852 to counter the rampant lawlessness in California, San Quentin is the oldest and probably the largest prison in the state. It completely occupies the south end of the tip of the San Quentin Peninsula. It is adjacent to the Corte Madera Channel which leads to the Larkspur Landing Ferry Terminal. That channel is maintained by the US Army Corps of Engineers from the deep water of the bay past San Quentin to the turning basin at Larkspur Landing.
The prison site includes a quarry, and occupies land that appears to have been leveled and extended into the Bay along Corte Madera Creek. So, the site is not only flat and adjacent to the channel, but it is considerably closer to deep water than Larkspur Landing, thus requiring less dredging. It is the ideal site for a ferry terminal. In fact, when the Golden Gate Bridge, Highway & Transportation District was planning a ferry terminal, the project engineer, Kaiser Engineers, investigated the acquisition of a portion of the prison property for the ferry terminal, only to be turned down by the State Department of Corrections. So, an old crushed-rock-loading terminal farther up the channel at Larkspur Landing became the compromise site for the ferry terminal.
Political Pressure
For some years, political forces in Marin County have been seeking to relocate San Quentin Prison from its prime piece of real estate. One argument often heard is that it would be cheaper to build a new prison than to upgrade the old buildings. In fact, many of the old unreinforced masonry buildings and concrete structures were built not only before the establishment of building codes in California but before seismic resistance was given much consideration. Currently underway is a "bare bones" seismic upgrade of one of the old cell blocks and the infirmary, but much more may be required.
The political pressure for moving the prison is mounting. Currently, Marin County Supervisors Steve Kinsey and Annette Rose are spearheading a $250,000 study authorized by the state legislature to study the relocation of San Quentin. The first step is to establish another site for California’s one and only "death row." Other functions that would need to be relocated include the reception center for new commitments and the general prison population. Folsom Prison is being suggested as a location, but further joint state-regional studies probably will be required.
Even Supervisor Kinsey admits that "this will be a ten year effort," because many obstacles need to be overcome before the dream of a "World Class Transit Center" at San Quentin becomes reality. In the first place, San Quentin is a large facility, and it will not be easy to relocate its 5,800 inmates.
Even after the inmates have been transferred, there remain the problems of the disposal of the buildings and the transfer of the title to the land. Many competing uses for the land will undoubtedly be proposed, and will need to be sorted out. A determination will also need to be made on how many of the old structures should be preserved as historic structures, and, indeed, whether or not the whole site should become an "historic district," thus impairing its function as a transit terminal.
Then, there is the matter of a railroad connection from San Rafael to the probable site of the transit hub on the south side of the peninsula along Corte Madera Channel. The railroad will involve the acquisition of a right-of-way (since none exists), plus engineering and construction. The probable route of the railroad would be from San Rafael eastward along Interstate 580; however, problems may arise in traversing the bridge approach and San Quentin Village. A shorter, more direct route would require excavating a tunnel under the point where Sir Francis Drake East Blvd. crosses the ridge. It might even prove feasible to use the old tunnel into Larkspur and run the tracks eastward along Corte Madera Channel to the site, but that would involve the same political struggle as currently exists about extending railroad tracks through the old tunnel to Larkspur Landing.
There is also the matter of designing access roads to the site and building parking facilities at the transit hub.
Another significant question that needs to be addressed is what to do with the existing ferry operation at Larkspur Landing. It will certainly require lengthy negotiations, since a good deal of Federal money went into building that terminal.
The Bottom Line
The bottom line is that it will require considerable effort to move San Quentin Prison. And, even when the prison is relocated, it will require negotiations to acquire a site for the transit terminal, deal with historic preservation questions, and then to put the highway, railroad, and ferry services into operation.
Supervisor Kinsey is right: it will be a ten-year project! But, he also stresses that, "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"
