Marin City-Sausalito Tunnel Art Project: All Our Children United

Over the past decade, engaged and energetic individuals have tried to improve the experience of pedestrians, cyclists, and motorists traveling through the dark and occasionally dangerous tunnel that links Marin City to Sausalito. In 2010, Marin City resident Larry Robertson, Jr. was stabbed to death on the dark pedestrian tunnel walkway between Marin City and Sausalito. The young man’s murder shocked both communities and brought added attention to a place that had long been intimidating for people, especially children, who had to walk or bike through it. 

2011 to 2017-  Dana King, an Emmy Award winning journalist at KPIX-TV and a Sausalito resident, proposed an art project in the tunnel that was approved by both the Sausalito City Council and the Marin City Community Services District. At the time, the County had no structure to work with CalTrans on a public art project, and the project was not realized. In 2015, Jonathon Goldman, Sausalito Director of Public Works, applied for and received a grant to replace the old lighting fixtures over the pedestrian/bike lane in the tunnel with LED lighting. In 2017, The Center for Excellence (now called Arts+ Scholars) started planning an art project in the tunnel. Then, the tunnel lighting project took precedence and the art project was put on hold. 

In 2017, a group of residents (the Tunnel Lighting Brigade) from our two communities worked with the County and CalTrans to get the lighting project done. In December, to celebrate the approval of the permit, the Brigade members gathered at each end of the tunnel and met at the center.