A majority of voters seem to like the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit system enough to continue funding it. Early polling results indicate that 72% of voters in both counties support Measure B, a measure that would extend the quarter-cent sales tax funding the SMART rail system.
The tax, first approved in 2008, is set to expire in 2029, but Measure B would continue it for 30 more years and generate about $51 million a year for rail and trail service.
SMART officials say the revenue would support rail and pathway operations, maintenance and planned expansions, while helping secure matching funds for future transportation projects.
Because it reached the ballot through the citizen initiative process, the measure needs only a simple majority to pass, rather than the two-thirds vote required for many local tax proposals. Critics argue the simple majority standard makes tax extensions easier to approve.
The measure qualified after organizers submitted more than 71,000 signatures in the two counties, surpassing the threshold for ballot placement.
SMART says the district now operates a 48-mile line from Windsor to Larkspur and holds more than 70 miles of railroad right-of-way and plans a full buildout reaching Healdsburg and Cloverdale.
The SMART District is a regional public transportation district established by the state Legislature in 2002 to plan, own, and operate passenger rail service and a parallel bicycle/pedestrian pathway in Sonoma and Marin counties.
The state has identified the U.S. Highway 101 corridor as one of the Bay Area’s most congested freeway segments.
