PETALUMA, Calif. – Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) is planning to use a budget increase to expand its commuter rail service and adjoining pathways. SMART plans to spend $110 million in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, up from the $77 million in this fiscal year.
Most of the increase, $41.6 million, will be used for rail and path construction projects beginning this year. These include an extension of rail service from Santa Rosa to Windsor, a rail extension from Windsor to Healdsburg and construction of a northern Petaluma station. The last extension was to Larkspur in 2019.
The current 45-mile system includes stations in the Sonoma County Airport area, Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Cotati, Petaluma, Novato, San Rafael, and Larkspur. SMART’s system also includes a bicycle and pedestrian pathway along the rail corridor. The planned extensions will expand the system to 70 miles on former Northwestern Pacific track.
SMART released its proposed budget for public review Monday. Public comments are due June 5, with the SMART board of directors set to vote on the budget June 21.
Both Ian and John are right on this one, if the train station was in the Ferry parking lot it would be a big improvement.
They still are not addressing a big bozo in the original design and build by not having extended the tracks over the ferry parking lot to facilitate a walk of no more than several hundred feet to board the ferry. How much customer traffic is lost because of walk of up to a half mile from the train to the ferry? Dumb, dumb.
Different authority, different funding bucket, governmental NIMBYism.