SMART turns to grants to fund section of Petaluma bike path

The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit agency is seeking funding to build a second crosstown bike path that, when constructed, will give pedestrians and cyclists another way to navigate the Highway 101 and Petaluma River crossings free from vehicle traffic.

Bicycle advocates, though, remain frustrated with the slow pace of construction of the 70-mile SMART bike path promised to Marin and Sonoma County voters, who approved a sales tax measure to fund the project in 2008. While SMART has spent hundreds of millions of dollars preparing the rail line from San Rafael to Santa Rosa for commuter train service to begin later this year, the agency has relied mostly on grant funding to construct pieces of the path.

The latest section of path SMART is aiming to build is a stretch along the railroad tracks between Payran Street and Southpoint Boulevard. The $3.27 million stretch will go under Highway 101 and over the Petaluma River on a planned bridge.

At a SMART meeting last month, the board voted to go after a $400,000 Open Space District grant, which will be matched by another $400,000 that the Open Space District granted to the agency in 2014. SMART expects to seek federal grants for the remainder of the project.

“SMART has been seeking additional grant revenues to fully fund this segment, and requests for federal funds to date have not been successful,” Joanne Parker, SMART programming and grants manager, said at the meeting.

Parker said that a lengthy federal environmental review process for the entire bike path project was recently completed, allowing the agency more access to federal funding.

“(There are) several opportunities this summer that we anticipate seeking federal grant resources to fully construct this project,” she said.

Bike advocates say that the Payran-Southpoint path will be a key route across Petaluma, connecting west side residences with an east side business park. The only pathway across town restricted for motorized vehicles is the Lynch Creek trail, the final portion of which was completed in December.

“It’s really important,” said Gary Helfrich, executive director of the Sonoma County Bicycle Coalition. “It’s a direct route between east and west Petaluma. The more places to cross the freeway without being in a car, the better.”

But Helfrich lamented the lack of SMART spending on the path project.

“What happened to all that tax measure money for the pathway?” he said. “So far, we have not seen much spent in Sonoma County. It’s frustrating. SMART is not willing to honor the commitment to voters to fund the path.”

Farhad Mansourain, SMART’s general manager, said that the economic crisis took a bite out of the agency’s sales tax revenue, forcing it to scale back the initial project and build it in phases. Most of the bike path was initially back-burnered, but the agency is renewing its focus on the pathway, he said.

“When the economy tanked, our funds became so little that we had to look at how to phase everything,” he said. “It’s not that this piece is more important than that piece. We’re trying to balance everything within the available funds.”

Supervisor David Rabbitt, who is on the SMART board, said the grant funding is welcomed, but echoed the frustrations that cyclists have about the lack of progress on the path.

“I think you are either honest with people about the fact that the path will not be built now and it will come later, or you start delivering on what you promised,” he said. “You can’t have it both ways.”

In an email, SMART spokeswoman Jeanne Mariani-Belding said that the Sonoma County Transportation Authority had contributed $250,000 for the design work on the Petaluma-area pathway.

“The pathway is an important part of the project, and we are committed to working hard to secure additional funds to complete the pathway in Petaluma and along other portions the corridor,” she wrote.

(Contact Matt Brown at matt.brown@arguscourier.com.)