Twelve deteriorating miles of Sir Francis Drake Boulevard on the Point Reyes Peninsula could soon be repaved and longstanding flooding problems fixed by a federal highway authority, according to an environmental assessment and initial study of the proposed project released by the National Park Service. Public comment for the project will be accepted until Aug. 13. The roadway, the assessment says, was not meant to sustain current traffic loads; average daily traffic is now 1,369 vehicles, and the asphalt now sports patches, potholes and crumbling edges. The width varies, mostly from 18 to 24 feet, and some areas lack shoulders. That makes it difficult for cars to pass bikes without encroaching in the other lane; milk trucks, school buses and park shuttles struggle to remain in one lane. Water also plagues the road. A section where East Schooner Creek runs under it floods in the rainy season; along a flood-prone section between the Pierce Point Road intersection and the turnoff to Drakes Estero, 17 accidents occurred in a four-and-a-half year time frame, of 44 accidents along the entire stretch of the project. Sediment in a nearby culvert has also spurred the creek to rise close to the level of the road, forming pools of standing water that have damaged the pavement. The project, headed by the Federal Highway Administration in cooperation with the park and Marin County, hopes to address the problems by resurfacing the asphalt, widening it in places so that it is a uniform 24-feet wide, paving roughly 15 percent of the ditches along the road, enlarging culverts where possible and elevating and relocating a section of road near Schooner Bay, among other localized construction. Funding is scheduled to arrive in 2018 but could be expedited to 2016. The entire construction period would last about 18 months, the document says, although no work would take place during the rainy season. Construction could require one-lane traffic and a maximum of 30-minute delays; or, if delays are longer, advance notice will be provided. To comment, visit parkplanning.nps.gov; send comments to SFDB Improvement Project EA c/o Superintendent Point Reyes National Seashore, 1 Bear Valley Road, Point Reyes, CA 94956; or hand deliver comments to that address during office hours.