Is Sebastopol’s Main Street destined for a two-way future?

An ongoing Caltrans-funded study is sorting through three final traffic improvement options with the next public hearing set for May 13

The plan is being shaped partially through community meetings, like this one from November 2024. The next public meeting on the plan is May 22.

Don’t look now, but there’s a 50-50 chance that a two-way Main Street could be replacing the current one-way alignment through the main downtown core of Sebastopol. And that seismic-level shift could occur as soon as five years from now, based on timelines and directives that are embedded in a current Caltrans Sustainable Communities Grant called “Reimagining the Core: Our Vision for Downtown Mobility and Vitality.”

The City of Sebastopol and consultants are continuing to hold community and stakeholder sessions, begun last November, while also conducting engineering and cost estimate work that will culminate in a final proposed vision and project later this year.

Important updates of the project plans will be presented to the city’s Planning Commission at 6 pm on Tuesday, May 13, at the Youth Annex on Morris Street. And, the general public is also invited to participate in a workshop to be held from 3 pm to 7 pm on Thursday, May 22, at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts at 282 High Street. (Information about upcoming meetings is available here.

Currently, the consultants Fehr & Peers, city staff and Caltrans representatives have been developing three project alternatives as top choices for Sebastopol’s future downtown street design. All of the plans must meet improved safety, bicycle and pedestrian access, improved downtown vitality, cost feasibility, cultural equity and overall mobility goals set by Caltrans in its Sustainable Grants outlines. (Caltrans is funding the $260,000 study, with additional staff support from the City of Sebastopol.)

The two-way street plan is being given priority consideration in accordance with top-level criteria set by Caltrans in the study. The study is one of a series being funded by Caltrans across California, where small town street patterns are overlayed with Caltrans-owned state highways. In Sebastopol, state highways 12 and 116 intersect at Sebastopol’s downtown core before heading west to the coast and Russian River resort areas.

Besides the two-way plan for Main Street and Petaluma Avenue, two other final choices are being studied. One plan would maintain the current one-way configuration but must show how safety and mobility conditions could be improved. A third option being studied would close a portion of Main Street to cars, leaving it open to pedestrian and bicycle traffic only.

“We are showing all of our work,” said Geoff Rubendall, of the Fehr & Peer consulting team. “We will be presenting our three proposed projects to the city’s Planning Commission on May 13 and continue to gather input from all of the local stakeholders.”

A final proposal would then be submitted to the City Council in November for approval before moving to Caltrans for engineering, cost-estimating and implementation, Rubendall said.

Back to the Future

Prior to a citywide voter referendum in 1984, Sebastopol’s Main Street, Petaluma Avenue and all other streets were two-way. Downtown merchants, city leaders and some citizens expressed continuing frustration over daily traffic jams on the city segments of highways 12 and 116. By a narrow 931-887 vote in June 1984, city voters endorsed the current one-way traffic pattern. A second vote pitting the one-way and two-way plans against one another held in June 1987 overwhelmingly favored the new (and current) one-way street plan.

However, the local frustrations over daily traffic congestion have persisted through all the years up to the present. Sebastopol’s downtown streets, commercial core, traffic circulation and pedestrian friendliness have all been the subject of numerous studies dating back at least to 1958 when the first proposal for a “Sebastopol Bypass” was mentioned.

Sebastopol has no shortage of diverse opinions and active citizens, but the one thing most people agree on is this: traffic congestion in Sebastopol is out of hand.

Sebastopol’s downtown traffic problems have been the subject of studies by a 1990 city-council directed Sebastopol Downtown Study; a 2012 Core Project study, led by the Redwood Empire Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA); a 2013 SDAT (Sustainable Design Assessment Team) study, led by a visiting team of professional AIA architects; and a 2016 Caltrans study of Highway 116 in which Caltrans engineers repeatedly recommended a return to a two-way street system for downtown Sebastopol.

“We’ve been meeting with several stakeholders, including the fire department, Sonoma County Transportation Authority, Caltrans and even the City of Santa Rosa,” said consultant Rubendall. “We’ve gathered some good feedback.”

A recent session was held April 29 with local business owners and other invited downtown constituents, including residents and school leaders, reported Rubendall. “I can’t say we’ve heard too many surprises, but there is a lot of interest in the topics and ideas,” he said.

An online citizen survey was conducted in late 2024, and about 100 people attended an earlier study workshop at the Arts Center in November.

Addressing the long history of lots of studies but little action, Rubendall said the current Caltrans grant is designed to create a physical street and traffic improvement project. Caltrans has construction funds dedicated to “Main Street” projects where local communities complete “inspired discussions that lead to collaboration, creative problem-solving and a shared vision,” said Donna Berry, a chief engineer with Caltrans.

“It’s too early to set specifics, but we know nothing is going to be cheap,” said Rubendall. “But the process is focused on creating a project and framework to get something done in the next five to 10 years.”

Find out more information on the Caltrans Sustainable Planning Grant here.