Big changes coming to downtown Forestville
Improved crosswalks, bulb outs and a bus pullout in front of Oaks Park sound cool, but many worry that the bike lanes planned for Front Street will wipe out much of the parking in downtown
Our Forestville columnist Lucy Hardcastle sent along this piece by Dan Northern, writing for the Forestville Chamber of Commerce, about Caltrans’ controversial plans for downtown Forestville.
I am afraid many of you may be unaware of some significant changes coming to downtown Forestville very soon. These changes have the potential to change the function and face of our downtown community forever. The changes include crosswalk warning lights and a new crosswalk across the highway at Oaks Park making crossing Hwy 116 safer. The turn lane on Hwy 116 at Covey Road will be eliminated to accommodate the realignment of the crosswalks there, improving crossings for schoolchildren. A bus pullout will be added in the east bound direction to allow transit buses to pull off the road at the front of Oaks Park. Various sections of new sidewalks will be added including fronting Oaks Park and small sections in other locations. These changes were requested by the Chamber of Commerce in 2014 and will make our downtown safer and more functional. This infrastructure project is funded with over $4 million in local quarry fees, designed by the County of Sonoma and must be approved by Caltrans since it’s a state highway.
On the other hand, the Chamber is concerned that this project comes with a cost that will forever change our downtown area, hamper access and negatively impact our fragile businesses. Caltrans has demanded that to approve the project it must include Class II bike lanes, 5-foot-wide striped lanes, just like Sebastopol, between Mirabel and Covey in both directions of Hwy. 116. Since the highway is so narrow—it is just 40-feet wide through the downtown area—in order to accommodate the bike lanes, all on-street parallel parking spaces on the north side of the highway between Mirabel and Covey will be eliminated except for a couple of spaces in front of La Rosa. Several other parallel and at least one diagonal space will also be eliminated. The Chamber estimates that a total of 15 to 20 parking spaces will be removed to accommodate the Class II bike lanes and other improvements.
We all realize how important parking is to our business district for many reasons, but the elimination of parking isn’t the only significant change necessary to accommodate the Class II bike lanes. Both the east and west bound traffic lanes will be reduced in width from their existing width of 12 feet to 11 feet. The narrowed traffic lanes combined with the two 5-foot-wide bike lanes will cause the center line of the highway and eventually the physical crown (hump) in the road to move 4 feet further north from its current location from Mirabel to Covey. Caltrans will not be moving the crown in the road in this phase so unfortunately when you drive in the east bound lane half of your car will be on one side of the hump and the other half on the other side. The next phase is scheduled by Caltrans 2030, or later, when they plan to regrade the road and physically move the crown over 4 feet as part of a separate project.
For these and other reasons, the Chamber has been advocating for Class III bike lanes through town. Class III bike lanes allow riders to ride in the traffic lanes, as they do now, with the addition of sharrows (bicycle symbol with chevrons). The sharrows remind drivers that bicycles may be present and guides riders away from hazards such as vehicles backing out of diagonal parking spaces and doors opening into the path of a bicycle from drivers exiting parallel parked cars. Class III bike lanes would minimize the number of parking spaces that must be removed, maintain the existing 12-foot travel lanes and eliminate the need to move the center line and road crown. In other words, it’s more cost effective too. The current downtown configuration would remain largely the same. Class III bike lanes are a very viable alternative and cost-effective solution. We are just asking bicycle riders to either ride in the travel lane for four short blocks to preserve our downtown or to use the West County Trail. (Editor’s note: The West County Trail runs parallel to Front Street, just one block west.) There will be plenty of bike racks to park bicycles and walk to local businesses.
We believe families, youth and less confident riders are better served on our low-traffic side streets where they can safely access downtown businesses, Forestville Youth Park, Oaks Park and the West County Trail using the new signalized crosswalks to safely cross Highway 116. Again, bike racks will be available to park your bicycle and walk to nearby businesses.
The Chamber is doing its best to change Caltrans’ mind, but we haven’t had much luck yet. Despite the huge response from last falls community survey when 70% of over 400 participants voted for Class III bike lanes over Class II bike lanes for downtown Forestville it did not sway Caltrans. In fact, they still haven’t even met with us or our local businesses to even discuss the project.
Unfortunately, there was no time at the last Town Hall for comments or questions after the County presented the project. The Chamber was hoping to get a better handle on the general feeling from the community at that meeting. The collective sigh from the audience, when they were informed about the loss of parking in the downtown area, was certainly a telltale sign though.
We will keep you updated on our progress, but the window of opportunity is closing quickly. In the meantime, we encourage you to attend the meeting called by Caltrans for April 21, 2026, to be held at the El Molino Campus Library at 6 pm. While this meeting is regarding a different but related project. Repaving, repairs and improvements to Hwy 116 between Sebastopol and Forestville some elements will overlap such as moving the crown in the road and your comments and concerns are needed and important.
— Dan Northern, Forestville Chamber of Commerce
Find out more about the Front Street Active Transportation Project.