San Rafael, SMART address traffic concerns with help from Jared Huffman

A major transit hub in San Rafael will be reconfigured during construction of a commuter rail line extension to Larkspur to ease traffic concerns in Marin County’s largest city, Rep. Jared Huffman announced Wednesday.

The new plan calls for buses that service some 9,000 passengers daily to remain on the grounds of the Bettini Transit Station, rather than circulating on city streets.

San Rafael’s mayor and city manager in February had requested a last-minute delay of the Larkspur project over potential traffic impacts. Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit authority officials rejected the request.

Huffman, D-San Rafael, stepped in over the weekend to mediate the dispute.

He said in addition to new bus configurations the parties agreed to work “in earnest together” on finding a permanent solution for the transit center in the next five years.

Construction on the $48 million rail link to the Larkspur ferry terminal is scheduled to be completed in 2018. The extension was a critical component of the 2008 tax measure voters in both counties approved to fund the rail line.

You can reach Staff Writer Derek Moore at 707-521-5336 or derek.moore@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @deadlinederek.