SMART Train and Pathway - Measure Q

• Train and Pathway Description
• SMART Train and Pathway Background
• Train and Pathway a SMART Choice - 
  Examples of trains and pathways in California - Marin Voice Oped

Volunteer Phone Bank Support is Vital to Get SMART Measure Q Passed on November 4th

As we move toward the November 4th election, Marin County Bicycle Coalition staff have ramped-up our grassroots efforts to pass Measure Q, the SMART (Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit)Train and Pathway. We’re managing phone banks, and hope that you will help. 

In 2006 SMART failed to pass by only 1.34%. It is urgent that we get SMART passed this November, as costs will continue to escalate. In order to get SMART approved by two-thirds of voters, we urgently need SMART supporters to work our phone banks. Phone banking is a fundamental part of our strategy; it allows us to contact voters directly and speak to them about SMART. 

It is this direct voter contact that will give us a SMART Train and Pathway victory on November 4th. Phone banking is allowing SMART supporters to clarify issues and provide information about SMART to voters.  

This is particularly important in light of the opposition engaging in the use of false statements about SMART in the press and in ballot statements in order to confuse voters. During the first two weeks of September two courts (one in Marin and one in Sonoma) ruled that SMART opponents were using false or misleading information in their ballot statements. As a result, opponent's ballot arguments were either changed or struck from the ballot altogether.  

The best way to dispel confusion and false information is for SMART supporters to speak to voters directly and help them understand the benefits of the SMART Train and Pathway. 

If you can spare one evening or perhaps one evening per week for the remaining weeks of the campaign, please contact Ben Lowe at Ben SMART Lowe at ben@smarttrain2008.org or (415) 483-4457. For more information, on the SMART campaign, please see www.smarttrain2008.org.  

Train and Pathway Description

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition is excited by the placement of the SMART Train and Pathway project Measure Q on the November 4, 2008 ballot.   

The 2008 SMART measure contains significant improvements for Marin County bicyclists since 2006 including 100% funding of the $91 million, 70-mile bicycle/pedestrian pathway that will run from Larkspur to Cloverdale (in the 2006 election the pathway was funded at only 57%). Seventy percent of pathway will be a separated (class 1) bicycle/pedestrian multi-use pathway; the remaining 30% will consist of bike lanes and bike routes on city streets. SMART estimates that there will be 7,000 users of the pathway (on weekdays) and that 10,000 people will be enjoying the bicycle/pedestrian pathway on weekend days. Additional improvements since the 2006 measure include weekend train service and the potential use of lighter, more efficient train cars. The SMART District voted to put SMART Measure Q on the ballot at their regular meeting in July. The quarter-cent transportation sales tax provides an economical, practical alternative and a critical investment for our future. 

SMART is a vital element of Marin's transportation infrastructure and will give Marin and Sonoma residents an ecologically wise transportation option to the heavily congested Highway 101, especially during the morning and evening commute times. Along with its connection to the Larkspur Ferry Terminal, the SMART train will give Marin residents an opportunity get out of their cars, helping to reduce congestion and saving considerable time for those who take the train. 

The SMART train and pathway will also significantly help to reduce Marin's greenhouse gas (GHG) footprint. In 2005, transportation accounted for over 60% of Marin's GHG emissions. SMART will directly reduce GHG's by about 124,000 pounds per day by shifting an estimated 5,300 daily trips away from automobiles and onto the train. While a two-car SMART train will have at least 200 seats, it will produce the CO2 emissions of only 12 automobiles. SMART’s two-to-three train cars fit within a city block and will be coordinated with traffic signals so that there will be no delays on city streets. Recent stories in the New York Times and the San Francisco Chronicle show train ridership up significantly since gas prices have been on the rise. In Salt Lake City, the UTA TRAX Train ridership numbers exceeded their 20-year ridership projection within the first year of operations of the train. TRAX ridership is now more than 200% over the original ridership projections. 

SMART needs two-thirds voter approval, or 66.67 percent to pass. In 2006 SMART came very close to being approved, but was 1.34 percent shy of the needed votes. The Marin County Bicycle Coalition will be working hard to pass SMART and provide sensible transportation options for future generations. 

Please contact andy@marinbike.org to volunteer, with your questions, or to learn more about how you can help support SMART. You can also view the campaign website at: www.smarttrain2008.org. 

SMART Train and Pathway Background

Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) has been working since 1999 to plan, engineer and build passenger rail service along the former NWP right-of-way (ROW) for 70 miles from Larkspur Landing to Cloverdale. The MCBC has been working with SMART since its inception to ensure that a multi-use pathway parallel to the rail line would be included in SMART's plans. To view SMART’s FAQ, click here.

The Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC) supported Measure R, which appeared on the November 7, 2006 ballot in Marin and Sonoma Counties. The 0.25 cent sales tax ballot measure would have provided funds to establish passenger rail service, as well as a bicycle and pedestrian pathway parallel to the rail line, for the 70-mile corridor from Larkspur Landing in Marin to Cloverdale in Sonoma. The Measure garnered more than 65% and was narrowly defeated by 1.34% between the two counties. It is expected that SMART will go back to voters in November 2008 with another funding proposal for the “rail with trail.”

According to the SMART Final Environmental Impact Report, approximately 7,000 bicyclists and pedestrians would use the pathway on a daily basis on weekdays and over 10,000 people would use it on the weekend days. Rail stations are being designed to optimize pedestrian and bicycle access, including on-site bicycle parking at all stations and space for staffed bicycle storage and maintenance facilities at the San Rafael and Santa Rosa station sites. With room being designed into rail cars for bicycle storage, passengers will be able take the train and ride their bicycles to work, school, shopping or for recreation.

In the Spring of 2008, SMART completed a Supplemental Environmental Impact Report to evaluate weekend service, a south Novato Station, alternative rail vehicles and freight use of the SMART right-of-way.

One of the Marin County Bicycle Coalition’s long-term project goals is the creation of a North-South Greenway pathway, along the railroad right-of-way, which will provide connections to transit, businesses, schools, residences and other destinations. SMART owns the railroad right-of-way north of Corte Madera. MCBC will continue to work with SMART to garner funds and support to build the North-South Greenway.

Train and Pathway is a SMART Choice - Marin Voice 8/2/08

The new wave of dishonest statements about the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) bicycle-pedestrian pathway being made by SMART opponents is a terrible, desperate, truth-distorting shame. This move is just one of a long list of such tactics being used to confuse voters about the SMART passenger train and its companion pathway.

Recent statements indicating that there must be 100 feet of separation between the train and the pathway, or the pathway will not be built, are patently false; they have no basis in law or reality.

Measure Q, the SMART ballot measure on the November 4th ballot, will provide 70 miles of multi-use pathways and bicycle lanes, most of which will be adjacent to the SMART train tracks. Using an excellent team of consultants and staff, the SMART District has designed a pathway that is world-class in both its vision and design. It is projected that there will be 7,000 – 10,000 daily users such as bicycle commuters, families, school children, and recreational walkers and cyclists.

The state of California has many operating train and pathway projects. Examples include the Sprinter Train that runs from Escondido to Oceanside. It currently has 6.5 miles of pathway with some areas as close as 15 feet to the center of the tracks. The coastal rail line in San Clemente has a 2.3-mile pathway separated by a small 4-foot high steel fence that is located within 20 feet of the centerline of the tracks in some stretches. 

The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has been involved with the design and environmental assessment of the SMART train and pathway from the beginning, and SMART consulted Federal Rail Administration guidance documents in planning the pathway project. The PUC, which regulates safety on California rail lines, does not have specific guidelines for bicycle and pedestrian pathways. Its General Order No. 26-D does specify that there must be a separation of a minimum of 8.5 feet of side clearance from the center of the track for a number of different structures- the SMART pathway clearance is well beyond this minimum. For additional safety, a barrier will separate the pathway from the rail line. 

The SMART train and pathway continues to be the best alternative to reducing greenhouse gases by 31 million pounds per year, giving commuters another choice along the 4th most congested freeway corridor in the Bay Area. Yes on Q is the fiscally responsible and best vote for Marin and Sonoma residents, for the region and for the Earth; SMART is the right choice for current and future generations. See www.marinbike.org for more information about the pathway, and www.smarttrain2008.org for more information about Measure Q or to get involved helping with the SMART campaign. The Marin County Bicycle Coalition urges you to vote YES on Measure Q on November 4.