SMART Train Gets $20 Million Boost for Larkspur, San Rafael Connection

President Barack Obama signed a $1.5 trillion Omnibus bill Friday afternoon that includes $20 million to help extend the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit project between San Rafael and Larkspur, U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman’s office announced.

“Our understanding is that the Department of Transportation will make funding available to the priority projects listed in the budget, including SMART,” Huffman’s (D-San Rafael) Chief of Staff Ben Miller said. Miller said the President signed the bill around 12:30 p.m. Pacific time.

The $20 million in federal funds is part of a $353 million “Small Starts” program. The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has already committed to providing the remaining $20 million needed to connect the rail line about two more miles from San Rafael to Larkspur.

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SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian said the President’s signature was expected because of the negotiations among Obama, the House and Senate about the federal government’s next fiscal year budget.

Extending the line to the Golden Gate Ferry service between Larkspur and San Francisco was critical to SMART’s regional transportation vision. Mansourian said service to Larkspur is scheduled to begin in late 2017 or summer 2018.

The next step would then be extending the service to Windsor, Mansourian said.

Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit plans to begin train service 43 miles between Airport Boulevard north of Santa Rosa to downtown San Rafael in late 2016. The Phase 1 project between Airport Boulevard and San Rafael includes 10 stations and costs $428 million.

Voters in both counties approved a quarter-cent sales tax in 2008 for SMART project that calls for a 72-mile line between Cloverdale and Larkspur and a bike/pedestrian pathway.

Plans to provide service from Larkspur to Cloverdale were delayed by the recession, less tax revenue than expected and investments that did not perform as expected.

–By Bay City News Service.

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PHOTO: SMART Train courtesy of Susan Gorin, 1st District Supervisor of Sonoma County on Facebook.