The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit agency won a key approval Wednesday when a committee agreed to shift almost $33 million to the San Rafael-to-Santa Rosa commuter rail plan to help the project get rolling.

In 2004, Bay Area voters approved a bridge toll increase via Regional Measure 2, including $35 million for the SMART project — about $13 million of which was spent on the completed Cal Park Hill Tunnel project. The balance of the money was to extend rail to Larkspur. But as the sales tax-driven project faltered along with the economy, it was shortened to exclude Larkspur for the time being.

Now the Metropolitan Transportation Commission is looking to shift the Larkspur dollars to the revamped San Rafael-to-Santa Rosa project. In addition to the $22 million from Regional Measure 2 dollars for the Larkspur extension, another $1.5 from the same fund would be switched to SMART from the Greenbrae Interchange project. MTC is set to deliver another $10 million to SMART from other funds it controls.

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission Programming and Allocations Committee agreed Wednesday to allocate the funds. The MTC board is scheduled to take up the item at its July 27 meeting, when it is expected to give conditional approval.

The condition is that SMART deliver the project with its current funding plan. The SMART board is not meeting in July. Acting SMART chief Farhad Mansourian is taking a fresh look at the project


and will have new financial estimates available by mid-August.

"There are a lot of conditions and contingencies," said Anne Richman, MTC staff member.

Mansourian was pleased with the committee's vote on Wednesday.

"It was the final step before the full MTC board could consider it," he said.

MARIN IJ