After years of talking about building a pedestrian bridge across the San Rafael Canal, the San Rafael City Council has taken decisive action.

The council has authorized buying a 1.6-acre lot off Canal Street for $3.3 million, land that could someday serve as the south footing for a bridge that would provide Canal residents with a more direct route across the canal to Third Street businesses, San Rafael High School and San Pedro School. The city also envisions turning the acreage into a park.

“This project represents a very unique opportunity to manifest a long-term community vision,” City Manager Cristine Alilovich said at the council’s June 23 meeting.

Building a bike and foot bridge has been talked about for decades. The city endorsed the idea in 2006.

Proponents have advanced the idea as a more direct route for Canal residents to reach jobs and shopping at businesses that line Third Street and San Pedro Road and a safe route for kids to use to get to school.

Today, they have to use the Grand Avenue Bridge, which can add 20 minutes to their trip.

Now, with the parcel secured, this long-standing vision is a big step closer to becoming a reality.

The city estimates the span will cost around $25 million.

Building a span has been in the city’s community transportation plan and in 2022 was listed as one of the city’s top 11 transportation projects for the next five years.

The city has received a $1.57 million grant from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to help pay for a study and preliminary design.

It isn’t going to be a long span, but it does face some design hurdles, such as having to accommodate the masts of sailboats that use the canal to get from local boatyards to the bay. There also has been debate over its footing on the northside of the canal.

The study and design will address those issues and should provide the city with several potential alternatives.

Acquisition of the site for a future park makes the purchase eligible for Measure A tax funds, the countywide sales tax for local park and open space acquisition, improvements and maintenance and protection of Marin open ranchlands.

The Trust for Public Land is helping the city acquire and raise funds for the acquisition, which will provide the community with a canal-front park, a break amid the apartments and commercial buildings that line the waterway.

Given the large population of the Canal neighborhood — roughly 12,000 people, or larger than half of Marin’s cities — there’s a real need for more parkland.

This acquisition responds to that need.

It is a win-win, providing a site for a future waterfront park and a milestone in the city’s progress toward building a bridge that meets a transportation need for a lot of people.