Commuter rail coming to Larkspur, related bridge project gets bailout

[www.marinij.com]

Workers continue construction on the multi-use pathway bridge over Sir Francis Drake Boulevard near the Larkspur Ferry Terminal

By Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal
POSTED: 12/18

Cyclists pedal past the multiuse bridge under construction near the Larkspur Ferry Terminal. Alan Dep — Marin Independent Journal
Commuter train service is coming to Larkspur.

That was all but assured Friday when Congress approved a $1.1 trillion budget that has $20 million set aside to bring the train from downtown San Rafael to near the Larkspur Ferry Terminal as part of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit project. President Barack Obama signed the budget bill a short time later.

“We are very excited,” said Farhad Mansourian, general manager for the rail agency. “And we are very relieved.”

In February SMART officials announced the agency was in line to receive federal funding to extend the commuter rail service to Larkspur as part of the Federal Transit Administration’s “Small Starts” grant program.

Over the summer, however, the Senate Appropriations Committee slashed the Small Starts program to $30 million, raising concerns SMART might miss out on the needed funding. But late Tuesday a proposed budget had reinstated Small Starts dollars and Congress approved the spending plan Friday.

SMART officials will meet with federal and local officials over the next several weeks to work on an implementation schedule. Initial estimates put trains rolling into Larkspur at the end of 2017 or summer 2018, Mansourian said.

Friday’s announcement came the same week a new pedestrian bridge to take SMART passengers over Sir Francis Drake Boulevard and to the ferry terminal received a $750,000 bailout to keep the project on schedule.

Construction of the bridge structure began in April. The new steel truss 291-foot bridge essentially follows the alignment of an old railroad trestle — part of a rail line built in the 1880s and made famous in the movie “Dirty Harry” — that was removed in 2003 after it was damaged by a truck.

Since work started, contractors “encountered differing site conditions and environmental issues, resulting in over 40 contract change orders,” according to a report by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, which has provided money for the project.

The project sponsor — the Transportation Authority of Marin — requested and received the $750,000 from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission on Thursday to cover the shortfall in order to complete the project. The money is coming from 2004’s voter-approved Regional Measure 2, which raised Bay Area state bridge tolls by $1.

While the bridge would have been finished without the added money, a new, key pathway to the ferry terminal could have been in jeopardy as well as other elements of the project.

“It would have been a real issue,” said Bill Whitney, project manager for the Transportation Authority of Marin.

With the cash influx on the way, work on the new bridge could be finished by the end of the year, but because Pacific Gas and Electric Co. is doing work in the area the opening will probably have to wait until January or February. In addition to SMART passengers, the bridge will be used by bicyclists and pedestrians to safely cross busy Sir Francis Drake Boulevard.

A few hundred feet north of the new bridge, work has already been done on a key stretch to get rail service to Larkspur from San Rafael. In December 2010 the revamped Cal Park Hill Tunnel, an 1,100-foot tube, was opened at a cost of $28 million.

The tunnel, which is 30 feet wide and 25 feet tall, has been divided, part of it dedicated to the rail right of way to deliver trains to Larkspur and the ferry, the other to bicycle and pedestrian use.

Train passengers will be able to use the new bridge to get to the ferry terminal, and to boats going into San Francisco.

“We are very excited to work with SMART,” said Priya Clemens, spokeswoman for Golden Gate Ferry.

But more planning would have to occur to determine how the agency would handle an influx of train passengers.

“Our ferries are full during the commute period now, although we have more space during non-peak hours,” she said.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Reach the author at mprado@marinij.com or follow Mark on Twitter: @MarkPradoIJ.

The Scalded Cats

Ventress Dugan
"But more planning would have to occur to determine how the agency would handle an influx of train passengers" says Priya Clemens of the Golden Gate Ferry". " our ferries are full during commute periods now, although we have more space during non-peak hours".

Really? Planning? Are you kidding me? NOW, they think we should plan?

How about this.....a round trip bus ticket from Santa Rosa to San Francisco is $21.00.
No transfers. The SMART train from Santa Rosa to Larkspur is NOT priced at this time. The ferry costs $11.25 EACH way and you have to transfer. The Ferry is subsidised now. This does not sound economical nor time efficient.

Also, relocating the San Rafael Bus Transfer Station will cost a bundle and to where? Or I guess we can just plow through the station.

Planning, wow, is not a concept that SMART or Golden Gate Ferry practices. Just look at the unsafe and unneccessary Novato Bus Facility.

Fran Nunez Ventress Dugan • 2 hours ago
SMART proponents planned . They planned how to get enough votes to pass a tax. (When at first you don't succeed, create a 2 county district and tell each county whatever is most likely to make them vote for the tax.)

Gerry
How much is 20 million going to help? it cost them 2 million to put a 2 block sidewalk up this year, the bridge is 9 million. I think they have to replace track, build a bridge, lay a bunch of track across Anderson, then lay track through the tunnel and over that other bridge, then build a place to turn the train around at the ferry building. 20 million will barely cover crossing anderson drive.

They need to stop acting like this isn't our money paying for this. They couldn't get enough money from the sales tax, so they are now taking it from fed.

American101
I do not understand why this local used train gets federal funding. I understand why an interstate highway would get federal funding. Did you know Bart Trains get Federal Funding? What happened to States rights? Shouldn't a state run system pay for itself?
Most people do not understand this. This is why people are pissed off at their government, The States cannot run themselves financially properly so they play this redistribution of wealthy via the Federal taxes mistakenly thinking, it's not my money. This is how Kennedy got away with "lets go to the moon". for moon rocks? An ignorant public. Now we have the moron Elon Musk wanting to go to Mars..yeah....we need more worthless rocks and trying to understand Mars and we cannot even get along on this planet.

Godlike American101
A dim light bulb speaks.

Guy Palmer
Indeed good news. And I know I've had this conversation with others, but really seems like they should be able to get that very short section of track up and running more quickly than a year. Smart itself is supposed to be rolling by mid/late 2016. And it amazes me that they stop at the old train depot rather than at the bus station. Seems like someone dropped the ball. And I had a feeling that the pedestrian bridge in larkspur had stalled. Nobody's been working there at all for a while now.