SMART hopes to reduce downtown traffic delays
Schedule changes considered to cut wait times at crossings
Commuters in downtown San Rafael tired of sitting behind railroad crossing gates could see their wait times cut by as much as half under a new plan unveiled by SMART.
Beginning Monday, Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit plans to test changes to its train departure schedules to reduce wait times at the Second Street and Third Street crossings. Nearly 60,000 drivers traversed the area every day prior to the pandemic.
The completion of SMART's Larkspur station in late 2019 caused trains to cut through the two busy thoroughfares throughout the day.
A recent study by SMART found drivers often wait about a minute for a single train to pass and nearly three minutes when two trains are passing through at the same time. The study found that delaying northbound train departures from Larkspur station by two minutes, combined with southbound trains arriving on schedule at the downtown San Rafael station, could reduce wait times to a range of 32 to 42 seconds for single train crossings and 90 seconds to two minutes for when two trains are passing.
“We're excited about the possibility of improving everybody's experience of driving through Second and Third streets,” SMART spokesman Matt Stevens said Friday.
Staff said that despite the delay from Larkspur, the schedule changes would still result in trains arriving on time.
The longer wait times often resulted from southbound trains arriving too early and waiting at the station to depart on time, according to SMART. The traffic is expected to worsen as SMART works to restore its pre-pandemic schedule, which peaked at 38 weekday trips.
The schedule changes are estimated to reduce traffic wait times by a total of 14 to 21 minutes per day, according to staff.
San Rafael officials and representatives welcomed the idea.
“When the gates come down it really has a significant impact on downtown traffic. We're interested in anything SMART can do to safely improve the gate downtimes for the train,” said San Rafael Public Works Director Bill Guerin, who also urged SMART to consider similar changes for the Andersen
Drive crossing.
“We know that even sitting there for two minutes often seems like 10 minutes is the perception,” SMART board member and Marin County Supervisor Damon Connolly said during the district board meeting on Wednesday. “Anything we can continue to shave off or coordinate, which you're doing here, is something the public will very much appreciate.”
San Rafael Mayor Kate Colin, also a SMART board member, said addressing the complaints is needed to continue to gain support for the train. She requested that a status report be provided to the board in six months.
“This is a complaint that has been nonstop and has increased, luckily, as we're getting more trips that are there,” Colin said.