From October 5 through November 20, 2026, Marin County Public Works is repaving almost two miles of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard between Platform Bridge Road and Highway 1. Flaggers will hold one lane from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Outside those hours both lanes are open. For the next seven weeks, the hill has a quick version and a slow version, and the split falls on the clock.
Most of what's worth stopping for at the bottom of the hill keeps hours that suit the quick version. The tavern at Due West opens at 4 on weekdays. The state's newest historical plaque in West Marin hangs outside the market there. And the walk to a cabin the Park Service plans to tear down starts from a trailhead you reach without touching the work zone at all. Taken together, this fall's Olema works best when you plan around the flaggers.
The schedule, in one place
| Weekdays, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. | Weekday evenings, nights and weekends | |
|---|---|---|
| Lanes on Sir Francis Drake, Platform Bridge Road to Highway 1 | One lane, flaggers alternating traffic | Both lanes open |
| Expected wait | 5 to 10 minutes per Public Works; about 5 per the county's September newsletter | None from this project |
| Dates | October 5 to November 20, 2026 | Same |
This is phase two. Phase one wrapped in September 2025. That round microground and microsurfaced the road to prepare it for this overlay, then restriped the lanes from 12 feet down to 11. If the hill has felt narrower since last fall, that's why. This round adds the pavement itself. The Point Reyes Light describes it as two layers over the roughly two-mile stretch. Shoulders get wider in selected uphill spots, but only where crews can widen the asphalt and shift the lines without environmental impacts or cost-prohibitive grading. Public Works puts the cost at about $1,560,000, paid from its Road and Bridge Fund.
A second, smaller job sits right next to it. A 75-foot retaining wall damaged in the 2023 storms is being repaired several hundred feet east of Platform Bridge Road, under a one-way signal with roughly five-minute waits. The county's September 18 newsletter gave that work a window of "Through Early October," so for the first few days of the paving you may meet both stops on one drive.
The Light also reported that West Marin commuters can expect delays across the county's road program through mid-to-late November. That program includes a new turn pocket at Nicasio Valley Road and Point Reyes-Petaluma Road, plus paving on Hicks Valley Road and Chileno Valley Road. Anastasia Pallas, the media specialist for the Department of Public Works, framed the whole effort this way:
"This is critical infrastructure and it's a top priority for us. The investments come with some short-term disruptions and growing pains, but at the end of the day, it's going to be very beneficial to all, especially those moving across West Marin every day."
Where the two clocks overlap
On weekdays the flaggers clock out at 5. Due West Tavern opens at 4, and happy hour runs from 4 to 6 every day. That leaves about one hour when the hill is still flagged and the tavern is already pouring. If you're heading over from the Lagunitas side for an early dinner, leaving at 5 means an open road with the last hour of happy hour still ahead.
Here are Due West's posted hours at 10005 Coastal Highway 1:
- Market: daily, 7 a.m. to 6 p.m.
- Tavern, Monday to Thursday: 4 to 8:30 p.m.
- Tavern, Friday: 4 to 9 p.m.
- Tavern, Saturday: 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.
- Tavern, Sunday: 11:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.
The market is the one stop that sits squarely on the flaggers' schedule. It opens an hour before the crews start and closes an hour after they finish. That 7 a.m. opening gives an early commuter coffee and a pastry before the 8 o'clock flagging begins. The market's menu covers smashburgers, fish and chips, baked goods, provisions, wine and locally made gifts. Its own page calls the market "recently remodeled."
The tavern cooks seasonal West Marin food: Tomales Bay oysters, Bolinas produce, Point Reyes meats and dairy, plus specialty beer, wine and craft cocktails. On weekdays there's also the "Love to the Locals" plate, $29.95 with a glass of house wine and a side salad. Because it's offered Monday through Friday, it lands on exactly the evenings when the road has just reopened.
One early date to note is the Rotary Club of West Marin social at Due West Tavern on Wednesday, October 7, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. The calendar listing says all are welcome. It starts the minute the flaggers stop, in the project's first week.
A plaque at the market, and a marker reached by weekend
On weekends both lanes are open all day and the tavern opens at 11:30. That makes Saturday the natural time to stand outside the market and read what went up on its wall in August.
On August 13, 2026, maritime historians and international guests gathered at Due West Market to dedicate a plaque for California Registered Historical Landmark #1061, "The site of New Albion." A British Consulate-General attended. According to the Point Reyes Light, it is the first California-registered historical landmark in West Marin since 1935. The plaque marks Francis Drake's 1579 anchorage, when many historians believe his crew came ashore from the Golden Hind and camped on what was then Coast Miwok land.
The plaque is new, but the designation isn't. The Drake Navigators Guild, which petitioned for the landmark, says the state commission voted for it on August 14, 2020. State Parks Director Armando Quintero signed it on October 6, 2021. The Guild credits Steve Wright and Michael Von der Porten with advancing the nomination. So what went up this summer is the physical marker for a five-year-old decision. The question it answers is still argued over. The Light notes the debate about the Golden Hind's actual course, with some placing the anchorage in San Francisco Bay and others farther north in Oregon or Vancouver.
The cabin you reach without touching the work zone
Then there's the trip that skips Olema Hill entirely. The Randall Trailhead is on the east side of Highway 1, six miles south of Olema. From there a steep old ranch and fire road climbs 1.7 miles to the Bolinas Ridge Trail. The trail sits inside Golden Gate National Recreation Area, but Point Reyes National Seashore manages both the trailhead and the trail. The Park Service's trailhead page was last updated in April 2024, so check current conditions before you go.
Somewhere on the Randall Trail, on the eastern slopes of Olema Valley, stands the Sieroty cabin. It's a modest 850-square-foot board-and-batten cottage on a bluff above a pasture where cows graze. Foliage and graffiti now cover much of its walls. The National Park Service has deemed it unsafe and plans to demolish it "this winter or next."
The name matters more than the building. Alan Sieroty served in the California Assembly from 1967 to 1977 and in the state Senate from 1978 to 1982. The company he ran was the last owner of Randall Ranch before the Park Service bought it on May 6, 1974. The Light describes him as the assemblyman whose legislation helped protect public access to California's coastline. In the 1980s, a beach at Tomales Bay State Park was named for him in recognition of that work. The Park Service hasn't set a demolition date, so this fall may be the last season the cabin is still standing on that bluff.
So in one stretch of Olema this fall, the state has put up a marker for a 1579 landing on the wall of a market. Six miles south, the Park Service is getting ready to take down the cabin of the legislator whose name is on a Tomales Bay beach. Both are easiest to visit when the flaggers are off.
Planning the next seven weeks
- Weekday commute over the hill: Crossing before 8 a.m. or after 5 p.m. avoids the one-lane control completely. If you can't, plan on 5 to 10 minutes per pass.
- First week of October: The retaining-wall signal east of Platform Bridge Road was scheduled through early October, so it may overlap with the start of paving.
- Weekday dinner: Driving to Due West once the flaggers stop at 5 means an open road, with happy hour running until 6.
- Saturday or Sunday: The road is unrestricted, the tavern opens at 11:30, and the New Albion plaque is right outside the market door.
- Rainy-season visitors at Bear Valley: The visitor center is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., the same hours that overlap the weekday work window.
- After November 20: Public Works' scheduled completion date, when the hill returns to two lanes all day on new pavement.
If the repaving has you rethinking your weekly loop through Olema, or you'd like someone who drives Sir Francis Drake every week to compare notes on the hill, call or text Terry Donohue. Terry is glad to talk through the West Marin roads, the crossroads stops and anything else on your mind this fall.