Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit past a milestone at the end of last month to secure the remaining commitment of funds to expand the service and the adjacent 8.8-mile bicycle and pedestrian path from Windsor to Healdsburg.

But that required a compromise on how local transportation officials balance projects and funding. And it disappointed some supporters of completing SMART’s two-decade plan to carry passengers to Cloverdale, complementing the agency’s plan for 70 miles of tracks and paths connecting northern Sonoma County to San Francisco Bay ferry system.

James Cameron, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, confirmed that the SMART extension from Windsor to Healdsburg has been modified to become the latest iteration of the Bay Area’s transportation and land use plan.

“The SCTA board has always been supportive and is very pleased to see SMART in Healdsburg in the plan,” said James Cameron, executive director of the Sonoma County Transportation Authority, one of the county’s eight agencies participant in the plan. “They continue to advocate for SMART to Cloverdale to be included as well.

The Healdsburg expansion was unanimously approved on October 23 for a amendment to Plan Bay Area 2050+ which also eliminated two other Sonoma County projects to clear the financial path for the SMART project.

“There are a lot of benefits to participating in this plan,” Cameron said. “It allows you to be much more competitive on (federal funding for) your projects if you are part of the Plan Bay area.”

October 23 was also the day a national transportation agency reward SMART an $81 million grant for the Healdsburg project, combined with an additional $188 million in state and federal commitments to raise funds to cover the estimated $269 million cost.

Construction is now expected to begin on the segment early next year and be completed in 2028. And the first half of 2025 is also the timing for the planned opening of the extension from the line’s current northern terminus , near Charles M. Schulz – Sonoma County. Airport in Windsor. The regional plan amendment also reduced Windsor’s expansion cost estimate from $142 million to $70 million.

As the region continues to face transportation funding challenges, the SCTA will likely continue to advocate for the Healdsburg to Cloverdale extension to be included in future iterations of the regional plan, Cameron said.

The latest plan for the Windsor-Healdsburg segment involves building a track and path 3.3 miles north of the Healdsburg Depot station, leaving 13.2 miles remaining to be built to reach Cloverdale.

The last cost estimate for the northernmost section was in 2019, at $308 million, according to a SMART spokesperson. This estimate will be updated with the latest pricing and construction cost control efforts.

A key goal to help finance the Cloverdale segment is Public transport 2050+a subset of the Bay Area Plan 2050+ update that will be considered next year. The Cloverdale section was included in the MTC Regional Transportation Plan, an earlier planning document, before 2012 and has since been submitted for inclusion in every cycle, according to a SMART spokesperson.

But some public comments to the MTC on the Healdsburg segment indicated that residents in the north end of Sonoma County were paying for a train that still hasn’t arrived.

“We have been paying a SMARTrain tax for almost two decades and our city has already completed its train depot. We’ve been waiting a long time for the train to come to Cloverdale, but your plan for 2050 does NOT include the final SMARTrain leg – from Healdsburg to Cloverdale… why not? wrote self-described Cloverdale resident Victor Aiuto during the MTC’s comment period on the amendment in August and September.

The city of Cloverdale built the station in 1998. Voters in Marin and Sonoma counties in 2008 approved Measure Q, a quarter-cent sales and use tax that is expected to provide 41 percent of the $121 million of SMART dollars. 2025 fiscal budget. Trains started running in August 2017.

The tax is set to expire in 2029, and SMART’s attempt in 2020 to secure a 30-year renewal in order to secure favorable funding failed to secure the necessary two-thirds of the vote. Lack of service to Windsor, Healdsburg and Cloverdale as well as the existence of a fully connected route have been among the main objections to the tax in recent years.

SMART is working with the City of Cloverdale and Sonoma County on federal grants to complete planning for the remaining segment, according to a SMART spokesperson.

“The partnership application is expected to be resubmitted in early 2025,” Julia Gonzalez, communications and marketing manager, wrote in an email. “If funded, SMART could advance environmental approvals, engineering and permitting so that the project is shovel-ready and eligible to receive federal funds. Federal funds prioritize rural investments in disadvantaged communities and north of the Healdsburg city limit are designated rural areas and Cloverdale and Mendocino County have a federal disadvantaged designation.