Vote "yes" on Measure R in Marin

SMART rail is the environmental choice in Marin and Sonoma

After a rigorous review, requiring 2/3-majority votes from five separate leadership committees, the Sierra Club has endorsed Measure R, the SMART train for Marin and Sonoma Counties. These committees each weighed SMART's environmental as well as economic costs and benefits. The total combined vote in the committees was an overwhelming 40 - 4.

Measure R is a 1/4% sales-tax increase that would fund the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) system, a weekday commute train running from Cloverdale to San Rafael or Larkspur.

SMART is planned to serve 14 stations - nine in Sonoma, and five in Marin - and up to 5,300 person-trips per day. SMART operation is designed to primarily serve commuters from Sonoma to Marin, and commuters within Sonoma. At its southern end SMART plans to provide a walking-distance connection to the Larkspur Ferry for commuters traveling into San Francisco.

SMART would take advantage of a mostly dormant rail line on an existing right-of-way held by the SMART Authority, which was created by California bill AB 2224 (Nation, 2002). The total cost of the system, according to the project Environmental Impact Report, including construction and operation for the first 20 years, would be approximately $1.4 billion. Two-directional traffic would be enabled on the single-track line through a series of sidings (pull-out locations).

SMART would provide an alternative to Highway 101, which narrows to two lanes in each direction between Novato and Petaluma, often resulting in significant congestion.

In addition, the SMART project would create a 70-mile multi-use bicycle and pedestrian path adjacent to the track, at a cost of approximately $80 million, which is included in the SMART budget. The multi-use trail is projected to serve as many as 7,000 trips per day.

Funding to restore service to the old North West Pacific right-of-way also creates the possibility to address a legacy of poor drainage and crumbling structures along the route of the old tracks. Erosion, reduction of water flow, and barriers to wildlife have long threatened the viability of hundreds of acres of wetlands in Marin and Sonoma Counties. Repair of these systems could benefit wildlife and may reduce dangerous flooding potential in some areas.

With good land-use planning, particularly in Sonoma, it is hoped that the train will help control development pressures at suburban margins, and help protect agriculture, wetlands, and open spaces.

In Marin the Sierra Club will urge that stations be sited in cooperation with local neighborhoods and be consistent with local codes regulating density and traffic impacts.

Please join the Sierra Club in supporting Measure R to create a viable transportation system that will protect our environment and communities in the future. Vote "yes" on R.