A Bay Area passageway known will soon be called the Robin Williams Tunnel in memory of the beloved actor and comedian.
The passageway known as the Rainbow Tunnel or the Waldo Tunnel will change its name to the Robin Williams Tunnel, as the California State has officially approved the name change. The tunnel leads travelers from Marin County to the Golden Gate Bridge.
Robin Williams, the late actor and comedian who committed suicide last year, was born in Chicago, Illinois, but moved with his family to Tiburon, California, when he was 16. Williams gave the world decades of laughter, sprinkled with notable words of wisdom, and is widely seen as an iconic figure in the Bay Area.
After moving to Tiburon at age 16, Williams went to Redwood High School and college. Even after he became a well-known, Academy Award-winning actor, Williams still kept close ties with the area.
After news broke out that Robin Williams was no longer among us, a fan named Julie Wainwright, from Belvedere, started an online petition to name the Rainbow Tunnel after the late actor, pointing out that he was an "integral part" of the community. More than 61,000 supporters signed the petition and Assemblyman Marc Levine (D-San Rafael) pushed forward legislation to rename the passageway.
"I want to remember and honor this very important citizen here in our community for the joy he brought to the world and to bring awareness to the silent illness that eventually took his life. I'm asking for your support to encourage the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to change the name of Waldo Tunnel to the Robin Williams Tunnel," reads the petition.
The California state senate is now officially moving forward with proceedings to rename the Rainbow Tunnel after Robin Williams.
"This measure would designate the Waldo Tunnel on State Highway Route 101 between postmile 0.885 and postmile 1.074 in the County of Marin as the Robin Williams Tunnel," noted the bill.
Signs displaying the new name should appear over the tunnel by this fall, and funding for the signs will come from private donations.
"The measure would request the Department of Transportation to determine the cost for appropriate signs showing this special designation and, upon receiving donations from nonstate sources covering that cost, to erect those signs."
