There is a tremendous historical momentum behind building roads in the North Bay. If you go back and read the local newspapers from the aughts, teens and twenties you will find that half of the ads are for automobiles and virtually every issue features a call for building more roads. The business interests are adamant about it and I assure you that the the Narrows will be built even if we had a BART extension into the North Bay.

Electric light rail is worth the extra cost and is an appropriate investment for the future, as it can be extended into San Francisco. SMART, as currently conceived, is window dressing and is a sop to those who worry that real transit will somehow spoil their affluent enclave.

The full ROW is needed now, not just for the future. SMART should lay their own trackage and let NCRA-NWP find their own funds to rebuild their own infrastructure. Only time will tell whether the NCRA-NWP can survive on its own. I would bet against it.

Related television news item this morning: The Vallejo ferry ridership is down due to fare increases - the operators demand a bigger subsidy in order to win back patrons. SMART+GGT ferry fares will be much higher than currently promised.