September 24, 2009 - September 25, 2009
Sonoma/Marin County Corridor Tour
The SMART Train and Pathway

The Cascadia Center for Regional Development is organizing a field trip this fall to the Bay Area for closer study of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) District rail corridor and the proposed $4 billion Transbay Terminal in San Francisco. As we learned during Cascadia Rail Week, from conceptualization to project implementation, the parallels it presents for the integration of high-speed rail with local transit are compelling.

The Transbay Terminal near the Embarcadero will be the terminus for the Los Angeles-San Francisco High Speed Rail corridor, the extension of the Cal Train commuter rail system from San Jose, and co-location of hundreds of new housing units and mixed used development. Here, we will also receive a briefing on San Francisco’s congestion pricing initiative.

SMART proposes to use the type of Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) self-propelled train cars that burn biofuels and carry bikes. That same type of DMU is under discussion for Everett to Bellingham, Renton to Snohomish and Auburn-Covington-Black Diamond corridors. Similar equipment is being used in Portland, San Diego, Austin and proposed for a BART extension in the Bay Area.

On Friday, September 25 we travel by passenger ferry from San Francisco to the City of Larkspur to tour the proposed 70-mile, $540 million rail and trail corridor. Our hosts will be the Marin County Bicycle Coalition, SMART, local elected officials, community leaders and developers. They have invited us to be a “sister” corridor and learn from their experience in securing a 70% positive vote for a bi-county sales tax increase. There will be a lunch program at Alderbrook Winery in Healdsburg, followed by wine tasting and transit oriented development discussion in Santa Rosa. Please see the agenda here.

Register here for this event.

Guests will need to make their own travel arrangements. The tour will begin on September 25th with a 7:45 a.m. departure on the Golden Gate Ferry Service to Larkspur and will return you to the San Francisco airport by 8:15 p.m. via BART. A block of rooms will be reserved at Griffon Hotel under “Cascadia Center Group” for the evening of September 24. Reservations can be made on the hotels website here. Use the Group code BR0000 to receive the special rate of $149.00

The following documents will be provided and discussed at the event. Electronic versions are available below for personal use:
Eastside TRailway Factsheet
The Economic Benefits of Trails and Greenways
A comparison of Interurban Commuter Rail systems
SMART and the Eastside
North-South Greenway Update 2009
Report from the Rails to Trails Conservancy