What is SMART?
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) Project is a passenger rail project located in San Francisco’s North Bay. The project provides rail service along 70 miles of the Northwestern Pacific Railroad alignment. Utilizing the publicly owned railroad right of way, the rail project will serve fourteen stations, from Cloverdale in Sonoma County to the San Francisco-bound ferry terminal in Larkspur, Marin County.
SMART provides an alternative to Highway 101 traffic by upgrading the existing rail line and building a new bicycle/pedestrian pathway linking the 14 rail stations. SMART’s environmental studies project that 5,300 passengers per day will ride the train and 7,000 to 10,000 people a day will utilize the bicycle/pedestrian pathway.
The rail project will take more than 1.3 million car trips off Highway 101 annually and reduce greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming, by at least 124,000 pounds per day. Capital construction costs for the rail project are estimated to be $440 million. The full 70-mile bicycle/pedestrian pathway is estimated at $90 million.
The SMART rail corridor parallels Highway 101, the only north-south transportation facility in the North Bay. Traffic congestion along this corridor has increased dramatically in the last decade and it is now ranked by Caltrans as one of the most congested freeways in the Bay Area. Over 80% of all North Bay commercial, residential and educational facilities are located along the SMART corridor. The SMART project is being designed to reduce the North Bay’s reliance on the single-occupant auto and to provide multi-modal, fuel-efficient alternatives to existing traffic and congestion on Highway 101. In addition, the rail project will enhance and improve the region’s land use policies and preservation of agricultural lands by restricting all rail stations to incorporated areas.
The fourteen stations along the corridor are being designed to accommodate available feeder services, shuttle services and, in selected suburban locations, park and ride facilities. Stations within the three largest cities in the North Bay – Santa Rosa, Petaluma and San Rafael – are being designed with no park and ride facilities, only bus and feeder services to further enhance congestion mitigation efforts. Commuter-oriented service will be provided by an estimated 14 roundtrip trains per day, operating at 30-minute intervals in the morning and evening peak commuting hours during the week. Bicycles will be allowed on board the trains, and weekend service also is being considered.
The SMART Project expects to use Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) vehicles along the corridor. The DMU is quieter, with lower noise levels and air emissions than conventional locomotive-hauled equipment. In addition SMART is currently analyzing the light DMU vehicle in its supplemental environmental work.
Key activities related to the project’s implementation include the following milestones:
- Certification of the Final Environmental Impact Report 2006
- Supplemental EIR 2008
- SMART Sales Tax Measure 2008*
- Project Implementation/Construction 2009-2013
- Estimated Service Start Up 2013
* The November 2006 election final election results concluded with a 65.3% majority for SMART’s Measure R (1.3% short of the required super majority necessary for a local sales tax measure).