By Kyle Frazier · Updated October 23, 2026
Quick Answer
Novato Boulevard between Grant Avenue and Diablo Avenue is getting a new trunk sewer, new water mains and a new storm drain system before the bike lanes, sidewalks and three-lane layout go on top. The City of Novato, the Novato Sanitary District and North Marin Water District put all of it into one contract so the street gets opened up once, not three times. The City estimates 18 to 24 months of construction and expects work to begin in late October or early November 2026. That start date is a forecast, not a promise.
Why another two years?
PG&E has been working on Novato Boulevard since spring 2025. So why does the stretch between Grant Avenue and Diablo Avenue need another 18 to 24 months of construction?
Here's what I know. Most of the next phase happens under the road. The new bike lanes and sidewalks will sit on top of a new sewer trunk, replacement water mains and a new storm drain system. Three public agencies agreed to install all of it under one contract, in one corridor, on one schedule. That is where the long timeline comes from, and it is also the point: the City does not want to tear up this street again a few years from now.
If you live in Novato, you have probably been detoured around this stretch at least once in the last year. Here is what is coming, who is paying for it, and what the street looks like when it is done.
Most of the work is under the pavement
The City's Novato Boulevard Improvements page lists the work as "roadway, pedestrian, bicycle, drainage, water, and sanitary sewer improvements." Three of those six are pipes.
The Novato Sanitary District's share is a new trunk sewer that runs parallel to the old one, from Grant Avenue to Diablo Avenue, plus replacement of the laterals that run from homes out to the trunk. North Marin Water District is replacing the distribution and branch water mains from just east of Diablo to just west of Grant. The City is adding new storm drain pipe and bioretention areas that treat runoff before it reaches Novato Creek and Warner Creek.
City staff described the job to the council as three layers. Sewer goes in first, water second, and then the City rebuilds the surface with the new lanes, sidewalks, bike lanes, signals and landscaping. The City estimates 18 to 24 months for all of it rather than naming a finish date, and it says the schedule can move with weather, utility coordination, permitting and whatever crews find once they open the ground.
Three agencies, one trench
Each agency could have bid its own job and dug its own trench. Instead the City is the lead agency, one contractor holds all three scopes of work, and the City says combining them is meant to shorten the overall construction time and spare the neighborhood repeated disruptions.
Here is how the work and the funding split up. The figures come from the Marin Independent Journal's September 1 report and the staff presentation to the City Council on August 25, and they can still shift as the agencies reconcile bids against estimates.
Agency | What it puts in the ground or on the street | Reported funding |
|---|---|---|
City of Novato | Storm drains and bioretention, signals, center turn lane, bike lanes, sidewalks, landscaping, driveways | About $8.49 million in Measure AA transportation sales tax funds for its construction share |
Novato Sanitary District | Parallel trunk sewer, lateral replacements | About $4.72 million |
North Marin Water District | Water main and branch line replacement | About $2.78 million |
The Marin IJ put the whole project at about $23.9 million once you count construction, staff time and contingencies. The construction contract itself is about $16.8 million. The City estimates its own share, including joint costs such as traffic control, at about $8 million.
What the PG&E phase already showed
The undergrounding work gives a good preview of what a utility job on this corridor looks like day to day. In October 2025, Patch reported a weekday closure of Novato Boulevard between 7th Street and Diablo Avenue from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., expected to run through March 2026. Access to homes and businesses stayed open, and drivers were sent around on Center Road or Grant Avenue.
In November 2025, PG&E drilled at Novato Boulevard and Diablo Avenue from November 3 to 17, weekdays and Saturdays. Driveway entrances to two residential complexes on Diablo Avenue were closed during work hours the first week and around the clock the second. That is the kind of block-by-block impact to expect for the next two years.
PG&E is not finished, either. The City says the major gas and electric undergrounding is substantially complete, but electrical service cutovers, removal of the overhead equipment and telecommunications work will continue into 2027. For a while, the PG&E crews and the new contractor will be working the same corridor.
City staff told the council they learned from that phase. They acknowledged the neighborhood has already put up with years of utility work, and they committed to better communication with residents, tighter traffic control, less disruption, and advance notice before any major change to traffic.
Who uses this stretch
The work zone is about a mile of road, but a lot of local trips run through it. Our Lady of Loretto Church sits at the corner of Novato Boulevard and Grant Avenue, with its parish offices at 1806 Novato Boulevard. The medical and dental offices at 1805 Novato Boulevard are across the street. UC Cooperative Extension Marin County, home of the Marin Master Gardeners and 4-H, has its office at 1682 Novato Boulevard.
West of Diablo, the boulevard is the main road to some of Novato's biggest open spaces. Miwok Park, at 2200 Novato Boulevard, is a 38-acre community park with a playground, picnic areas, creekside paths and the Museum of the American Indian. O'Hair Park sits where Novato Boulevard meets Sutro Avenue and runs west toward Stafford Lake. Marin County Parks' own directions to Stafford Lake Park say to follow Novato Boulevard 2.6 miles from San Marin Drive. A weekend trip from downtown to any of these goes straight through the construction zone.
The street that comes out the other side
The finished layout was settled back on June 12, 2018, when the City Council picked a three-lane design over the five-lane widening that had been on the books for years. The smaller footprint stays out of Novato Creek, takes less land from private property, saves more trees, and still improves peak-hour traffic flow. By segment, it works out like this:
- Diablo Avenue to 7th Street/Tamalpais Avenue: one through lane in each direction plus a two-way center left-turn lane, with a second northbound through lane from Boulevard Terrace to 7th/Tamalpais.
- 7th Street/Tamalpais Avenue to Grant Avenue: two northbound through lanes, one southbound through lane and a two-way center left-turn lane.
- Whole corridor: continuous sidewalks and Class II bike lanes on both sides, new crosswalks and ADA curb ramps, new street lighting, pavement rehabilitation, and drought-tolerant, fire-wise landscaping.
- Signals: new traffic signals at Diablo Avenue, Seventh Street and Grant Avenue.
City staff told the council the sidewalks fill in the gaps where the boulevard has sidewalk on only one side today, and the bike lanes run the full length from Diablo to Grant on both sides. The City's case for the design is simple: the corridor gets safer for every mode of travel.
A plan from 2001 reaches a contract
This design has been waiting a long time. City staff date the capital project to 2001. The council approved the three-lane concept in 2018, and the draft environmental impact report went to the State Clearinghouse in October 2021. Then the street work had to wait for PG&E to underground the overhead lines, which did not start until spring 2025.
The contract came together over the last two months. Bids were due on August 19, 2026, and the City Council approved the project on August 25.
On September 22, 2026, the council awarded the construction contract, and as of the City's October update the construction agreement is being finalized. For one mile of road, this is about as big as a City project gets.
Following the work from here
The City has not yet published the order of construction segments, work hours or detour routes. For now it tells residents, businesses and drivers to expect periodic traffic delays, lane restrictions and temporary changes to access, and it says access will be kept open wherever feasible. The City and its construction management consultant are setting up a dedicated project webpage for schedules and traffic impacts. In its October update, the City said that link was expected within two weeks.
Until that page is live, the City's Novato Boulevard Improvements page is the official source. You can sign up there for email updates by subscribing to both the Calendar and News categories. For questions about the PG&E work still underway, the City's project page lists a PG&E outreach contact and phone number.
What this means if you own a home on or near Novato Boulevard
A two-year construction project is a disclosure item, a showing-schedule item and a pricing item. Buyers will ask about it, appraisers will note it, and the answer should come from you before it comes from the orange cones. If you are planning a sale or a purchase along this corridor while the work is underway, reach out so I can set up our first visit. We will build the construction timeline into your pricing, your showings and your closing date. Book an Appointment and we'll go through what it means for your street.
