SMART construction defers bike path

The first phase of the SMART commuter rail system, on which construction began Tuesday, does not include work on the parallel pedestrian and bicycle path that was a crucial factor in winning voter support for the train project.

But cycling advocates say they are still on board with the rail project.

"It's right on track, as far as we're concerned," said Sandra Lupien, outreach director for the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition.

The cycling community was not as pleased in April when SMART's board of directors trimmed the budget for the pathway by a third as part of a larger reduction aimed at saving $88.2 million.

The pathway was a critical selling point for a quarter-percent sales tax to pay for the Sonoma-Marin Area Rapid Transit line. The pathway, like the trains, was promised to cover the 70-mile, Cloverdale-to-Larkspur project.

But just like the rail project that has been scaled back and is being built in stages - the first being a 38.5 mile segment from north Santa Rosa to the Marin Civic Center - the pathway also will be built in chunks.

Lupien said a series of meetings with SMART helped allay concerns in the cycling community.

At a SMART meeting on Monday, during which the board authorized a $103.3 million contract to start the first phase of construction on the rail project, one of the speakers to publicly applaud the step was Andy Peri with the Marin County Bicycle Coalition.

Peri told the board the coalition was "celebrating" the start of construction.

SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian on Tuesday called concerns that the agency wouldn't follow through with the pathway "nonsense" fueled by opponents of the rail line.

RepealSMART is circulating petitions seeking to overturn Measure Q, the sales tax measure.

Mansourian said SMART already has contributed $13 million toward the $28 million construction of a tunnel along the pathway, and set aside an additional $28 million toward future pathway costs. He estimated the total cost to the complete the pathway would be $50 million.

Mansourian said that from a construction standpoint it made more sense to build the rail line first so that the work it doesn't damage the pathway.

He said SMART also has to gain federal environmental clearance for the pathway as rail officials seek more federal funding for the project.

"We are committed for the entire project," he said. "We're phasing it in based on the availability of funds."

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com.