San Rafael wants a delay in SMART trains to Larkspur

Mayor Gary Phillips raised issues about traffic impacts to downtown San Rafael if SMART trains continue to Larkspur as planned. (Robert Tong/Marin Independent Journal) 

By Mark Prado, Marin Independent Journal

POSTED: 02/04/17, 4:42 PM PST | UPDATED: 2 HRS AGO

143 COMMENTS

A SMART train sits at the end of the line in San Rafael. (Robert Tong/Marin Independent Journal) 

Citing traffic concerns, the mayor of San Rafael is requesting the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system halt plans to extend trains to Larkspur until a new downtown transit center can be built — a project that is at least five years away.

The letter from Mayor Gary Phillips and City Manager Jim Schutz to SMART General Manager Farhad Mansourian raises issues about traffic impacts to downtown San Rafael if trains continue to Larkspur as planned.

“We understand fully the value of people coming to San Rafael on SMART, but it does not appear there will be many people going to Larkspur,” Phillips said Friday. “It would benefit a few riders, but to the detriment of many.”

The SMART plan has trains crossing busy Second and Third streets then going through the Bettini Transit Center, which sees 9,000 passengers a day, to get to Larkspur. Phillips fears trains crossing those streets will serve to back up traffic not only downtown, but on nearby Highway 101 off and on-ramps.

In addition, in order to accommodate trains passing through the transit center, bus stops will move to the perimeter of the facility, creating more traffic problems, the city believes. The San Rafael to Santa Rosa rail segment is scheduled to begin operation later this year.

In December 2015, SMART officials announced the agency was in line to receive funding to extend the commuter rail service to Larkspur, with construction starting as soon as this summer and service starting next year.

Now the city wants to put the brakes on that plan and instead wait until a site for a new permanent transit center is found and funding available. A new transit center — which could more easily accommodate bus and train service — would cost between $32 million and $42 million, according to preliminary estimates. Funding has not been identified. See Full Article HERE

Letter from San Rafael to SMART

January 23, 2017

Farhad Mansourian, General Manager
Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District
5401 Old Redwood Hwy., 2nd Floor
Petaluma, CA 94954

Dear Farhad

The City of San Rafael has many policies in our General Plan and other planning documents that encourage the expansion of regional transit by the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART). The City has appreciated our productive working relationship with SMART and the other transit agencies in the development of our Station Area Plan, Transit Center Relocation Study, and many other efforts.

Our work to date has demonstrated clearly the significant impacts of SMART particularly on downtown San Rafael. While the impacts of the Initial Operating Segment are significant, there are severe impacts on this important downtown gateway area due to the Larkspur Extension. The tracks bifurcate and will require the relocation of the Bettini Transit Center, which serves approximately 9,000 riders per day, and are less than a block away from the north and south bound ramps of US-101. The area is the center of both a major north-south and east-west corridor. When the tracks cross Second and Third Streets, a three to four lane, one-way, major arterial couplet, tens of thousands of vehicles per day will be impacted.

San Rafael has been preparing for this project as expeditiously as possible, such as:

·         We invested approximately $4.5 million in City funds and an additional $1.9 million in
grant funds in traffic signal SMART coordination and accessibility improvements.

·         We are in the process of applying to the CPUC to allow the at-grade crossing at Andersen Drive, estimated to cost the City an additional $4-5 million and expected to take six months to more than a year for approval.

·         We recently approved the contract for the environmental and design work for the Multi-Use Path along the SMART tracks from Second Street to Andersen Drive, estimated to cost approximately $3-4 million (no construction funding secured).

·         We partnered with SMART and the transit agencies on the Station Area Plan and the Transit Center Relocation Study. The latter estimated the Interim Transit Center as costing approximately $3.2 million (funding secured) and the Permanent Transit Center as costing between $22-32 million (no construction funding secured).

·         We have begun discussions with SMART on agreements related to Quiet Zone maintenance, the W. Francisco Blvd. "Flip," Andersen Drive, and other issues.

·         We have been awaiting the required MOU between the Golden Gate District and SMART regarding the Transit Center so that we may understand the impacts that may arise from that agreement.

·         We are working with SMART staff to clarify Right-Of-Way ownership through the downtown gateway area.

CITY OF SAN RAFAEL 11400 FIFTH AVENUE, SAN RAFAEL, CALIFORNIA 94901 CITYOFSANRAFAEL.ORG

Gary 0 Phillips, Mayor • Maribeth Bushey, Vice Mayor • Kate Colin, Councilmember • John Gamblin, Councilmember • Andrew Cuyugan McCullough, Councilmember

SMART's current schedule to begin construction of the Larkspur Extension in Summer 2017 (estimated completion at the end of 2018) would require that the City of San Rafael either: 1) approve an Interim Transit Center allowing buses, taxis, and other ride sharing vehicles to use city streets for their operations — thus impacting traffic congestion, pedestrian safety, and reducing the already very limited parking, or 2) decline to approve an Interim Transit Center which would result in the elimination of bus service to thousands of riders per day.

As mentioned above, our local policies and planning documents support the SMART train and pathway. We feel SMART would be more successful if the negative impacts on bus transit riders and vehicular trips are minimized, which can be done through the creation of a Permanent Transit Center and through minimizing or eliminating the need for an Interim Transit Center that uses City streets.

The selection of a Permanent Transit Center is underway, and Golden Gate Transit will soon be releasing a Request for Proposals to begin an environmental review process to analyze final alternatives. As a consultant has not been selected yet, there is no timeline for completion, but similar processes have taken in the range of one to two years. Possible construction funding mechanisms that have been mentioned include one or a combination of: a potential Regional Measure 3 ballot measure, a potential TAM sales tax increase, a potential future SMART reauthorization, and Cap and Trade funds. Each would require considerable further exploration and approvals outside of the control of the City of San Rafael.

The City's concern is that SMART's current schedule necessitates an Interim Transit Center in advance of the selection of a site and the funding for a Permanent Transit Center. The City of San Rafael therefore respectfully requests that the SMART Board of Directors add an item to your February 1 agenda to consider modification of SMART's current schedule so that the construction of the Larkspur Extension does not begin until such time that a final site of the Permanent Transit Center in downtown San Rafael is agreed upon (by the City and transit agencies) and funding to construct the Permanent Transit Center has been obtained.

Thank you for your consideration of this request and we await your response.

Gary Philips, 

Mayor

City of San Rafael

Transit center decision needs sensible planning

Marin Voice: Transit center decision needs sensible planning

By Richard Hall

POSTED: 01/26/17, 4:53 PM PST | UPDATED: 10 HRS AGO

0 COMMENTS

Drivers and transit center users in San Rafael are anticipating Sonoma-Marin Area Transit rail service to commence this spring. However, the subsequent extension of SMART to Larkspur puts in motion changes to roads, and the Bettini bus transit center is likely to snarl traffic in downtown San Rafael and potentially Highway 101.

Residents and bus passengers using the center might expect appropriate foresight and planning, but as reported by IJ columnist Dick Spotswood, San Rafael “officials are waiting for SMART’s first trips to determine on-the-ground traffic impacts and only then deal with the problem.”

The impact of SMART extending to Larkspur imposes significant changes to traffic in San Rafael:

• Second and Third streets, with 50,000 daily vehicle trips, will experience delays from trains crossing four times an hour during peak hours.

• The Bettini center, serving 9,000 daily bus riders, must be moved as SMART’s tracks to Larkspur bisect bus platforms. No place has yet been identified to park hundreds of buses entering and exiting the center. The “interim plan” is to park these buses on already congested streets for several years.

• Traffic congestion caused by buses and crossing guards could prevent cars from exiting Highway 101, lengthening commute times for 217,000 daily car drivers.

Why? To make way for a train that SMART projects, in its environmental report, will serve just 231 daily riders, a number not attained until 2035.

A new grassroots organization has formed — Save Our San Rafael — to advocate more rational planning performed in advance of permitting SMART to be extended to Larkspur. This would include a full analysis of the traffic impacts.

Key questions include where to put the relocated transit center, how much it will cost and what to do in an interim period likely to persist for many years.

Exactly how many Golden Gate and Marin Transit buses will fit on city streets, how passengers will safely make connections and how this will impact traffic have not been disclosed.

The San Rafael City Council will consider alternatives at future public meetings.

How much traffic will be created?

According to city staff, the city has no plan to analyze whether trains crossing Second, Third and Fourth streets and Fifth and Mission avenues four times an hour will inhibit cars exiting the freeway. So far, nothing official has been disclosed or made available to the public.

If cars are backed into the gridlock that already exists on Highway 101, hundreds of thousands of commuters on the regional freeway will experience even longer commutes and emit more pollutants — including greenhouse gases — into the atmosphere.

San Rafael’s public works department has claimed an environmental impact analysis is not required. While it may not be legally required, it is morally required.

The City Council and the public ought to be provided the information as to whether SMART’s congestion increasing extension actually increases or decreases emissions.

The city’s wait-and-see approach comes with serious consequences. Once the train crosses Third, under federal law, there is nothing the city can do about the additional traffic.

We propose a logical alternative: Follow the successful quiet zone process implemented by Mayor Gary Phillips. The City Council held three public hearings to consider quiet zones. They were such a success that the method used by Mayor Phillips is being followed by Novato and Sonoma County.

The City Council needs to first conduct a thorough traffic analysis, then repeat this proven approach.

The current wait-and-see approach sets the city on an irreversible disaster course. Save Our San Rafael seeks to put planning on the right track to truly relieve traffic and fight climate change.

Richard Hall is a transportation and planning activist in Marin and one of the founders of Save Our San Rafae

Sign the Petition to FIX the "SMART" traffic problems. ACTION NEEDED

Please sign the petition below to help stop traffic in downtown San Rafael and highway 101 being made much worse.

When SMART is extended to Larkspur traffic congestion in downtown San Rafael and 101, already officially classified as "unacceptable" (level of service E) is going to get much worse. Not only will the very busy 2nd and 3rd streets will be impacted by trains crossing four times an hour during rush hour but the entire transit center must be relocated so buses will load up on city streets. And there is no plan to mitigate this!

We need the city council to analyze the impact on traffic, and then to truly mitigate it - not make things worse. One may also expect the city to use this opportunity to place additional high density housing near the downtown SMART station.

Please SIGN the petition and most importantly SHARE it via Facebook and email with as many people as you can.

https://www.change.org/p/help-stop-smart-making-san-rafael-and-101-traffic-congestion-worse

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Hey Folks I just got this petition from a new organization formed in San Rafael

SOSr  “Save Our San Rafael” have organized to  insist that a sensible plan be developed
to address the relocation of the Golden Gate  Transit bus center.   City staff is proposing
to actually park buses on city streets “until a final location and $25 MM can be raised to
relocate the center.”    (That’s if $25 MM is all that is needed to relocate a major bus
transit hub.)   

Imagine the traffic congestion in downtown San Rafael with buses parked on the streets
and 9,000 bus transit riders crossing streets to make their transfers. 

And will the congestion be so bad that cars can’t exit Hwy 101 during the peak hours?
That’s a big unknown.    No one has evaluated this question and SOSr is workiing
to ensure that these impacts are considered before anything is done to the transit
center  that will generate gridlock in downtown San Rafael.

If you think parking buses on city streets for an unknown number of years is a really
dumb idea please sign the petition and forward it to everyone.  The more that sign
the clearer the message will be to the City Council of San Rafael, who will soon be
taking up this issue later this month.

Please circulate to your friends in Marin and Sonoma

You can read more and sign the petition here:

https://www.change.org/p/help-stop-smart-making-san-rafael-and-101-traffic-congestion-worse?recruiter=101572700&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive