SMART has approved a $2.5 million contract to complete designs for its walking and bicycling path network in Marin County.
The Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit District has already built about half of the 14 miles of its planned path between its Larkspur and northern Novato train stations. About 6 miles of the unbuilt segments from northern San Rafael through Novato have yet to undergo design and permitting work.
The design contract approved by the SMART board on Wednesday will bring all these Marin segments of the path into “shovel-ready” status by the end of 2023, allowing the agency to be more competitive for grant funding needed for construction, according to Bill Gamlen, SMART’s chief engineer.
The planned 52-mile path network in Marin and Sonoma counties was a major incentive for cycling advocates and organizations to support SMART’s sales tax measure in 2008. It is the district’s main funding source.
Groups such as the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and Transportation Alternatives for Marin have been urging SMART to prioritize more funds for the path and lauded the district’s investment on Wednesday.
“This is a great advancement and it will bring the SMART pathway much closer to its completed status than before,” Matthew Hartzell of Transportation Alternatives for Marin told the SMART board on Wednesday.
But it might be some time before any path projects can actually be built. In addition to needing construction funding, SMART is also the defendant in a federal lawsuit challenging its ability to construct the path. The lawsuit, filed last year on behalf of now nearly 140 residents in Sonoma and Marin, alleges SMART lacks the authority in its easements to build the path along the railroad right of way through their properties. The lawsuit states SMART’s easement only allows projects for railroad purposes and not for a path.
“We really can’t move forward until they have been fully funded and the resolution of litigation,” said SMART spokesman Matt Stevens.
By the end of 2023, the CSW Stuber-Stroeh Engineering Group plans to design five segments of the path: 2.7 miles from Smith Ranch Road near McInnis Park to Main Gate Road at SMART’s Novato’s Hamilton station; 1.4 miles from State Access Road in Novato to the San Francisco Bay Trail near Bel Marin Keys; 1.3 miles from Hanna Ranch Road to south end of Novato Creek; 0.3 miles from Grant Avenue to Olive Avenue in Novato; and about 0.4 miles from Olive Avenue to Rush Creek Place in Novato.
SMART is using its sales tax revenue to pay for the design work.
While some of the segments might seem smaller, completing them will provide a much safer and quicker travel experience for walkers and cyclists, in particular, said Warren Wells of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition.
Currently, cyclists traveling north from Hanna Ranch Road to Vintage Way in Novato have to head south, cross Highway 101 in Ignacio, then head north and cross the highway again at Rowland Boulevard. These highway crossings were not designed for bicyclists and only the most risk-tolerant riders will travel over them, Wells said.
“A bunch of these small gaps are short but very important,” Wells said. “To make a relatively short trip, as the crow flies, riders are currently required to go very far out of their way and make stressful roadway crossings.”
The allocation comes a month after SMART approved a $2.6 million contract with BKF Engineers to design 7 miles of path. Most of the segments are located in Sonoma County, but the contract also includes design completion for a 2-mile segment from McInnis Parkway near the Marin County Civic Center and Smith Ranch Road in San Rafael. This segment has already received a grant for construction.
