The North Bay rail line’s board approved the construction deal for 4.75 miles of track and two steel bridges, and Healdsburg says it is ready, with one strong opinion about where the station should go.
The Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit district has spent most of a decade inching its trains north from Larkspur. Its next step is the most expensive per mile so far: about 4.75 miles from Windsor into Healdsburg, including a new steel truss bridge over the Russian River.
On Oct. 21, SMART’s board approved a $190,537,469 contract amendment with Stacy and Witbeck/Herzog, a joint venture, to finish the design and build that segment, according to the staff report prepared by Bill Gamlen, the district’s chief engineer. The work runs from Windsor Station, at milepost 63, to Front Street in Healdsburg, at milepost 67.75.
For a sense of scale, that is about two-thirds of the width of San Francisco, at roughly $40 million a mile.
What the money buys
The contract covers track, the train control system and a multi-use pathway alongside the rails, according to the staff report. It also includes two steel railroad bridges: a through-truss span over the Russian River and a through-girder bridge over Old Redwood Highway. KQED reported that both bridges will carry bicyclists and pedestrians as well as trains.
The river sets the calendar. The staff report notes that in-water work on the Russian River is allowed only between June 15 and Oct. 15 each year.
The price came down before the vote. The contractor’s initial guaranteed maximum price was $224,601,234, and SMART staff negotiated it down to $190,537,469 using an independent cost estimate, the report says. Sonoma County is paying $3,950,915 of that to lengthen the Old Redwood Highway bridge to make room for a planned widening of the road beneath it, which leaves SMART’s share at $186,586,554.
With the earlier design phase, approved in September 2025 to bring plans to 65 percent, the total value of the agreement rises to $213,784,958.39, and the contract term runs to March 31, 2029.
Who is paying
Most of the money is coming from Sacramento. The state provides 73 percent of the grants SMART has secured for the extension, according to the staff report, through two Senate Bill 1 programs, Solutions for Congested Corridors and the Local Partnership Program, and through the Transit and Intercity Rail Capital Program. The rest comes from the Federal Railroad Administration, the Federal Transit Administration, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, the Sonoma County Transportation and Climate Authority and Sonoma County.
The California Transportation Commission allocated $162 million to the project the week before the vote, The Press Democrat reported.
“We are grateful to our state partners for recognizing the importance of this project and investing in transportation infrastructure that will strengthen our regional economy and benefit our communities for generations,” Chris Coursey, the SMART board chair, said, according to the newspaper.
State Senator Mike McGuire of Healdsburg was more succinct. “This $162 million is big damn news! Next stop: Geyserville and Cloverdale,” he said in a statement.
The timeline
Construction is expected to begin in spring 2027, and SMART expects to run trains to Healdsburg by late 2028, KQED reported, citing the agency. KQED put the estimated cost of completing the project at $269 million.
“This creates construction jobs, it strengthens our regional economy, and it’s building a transportation infrastructure that is going to benefit generations to come,” Julia Gonzalez, a SMART spokesperson, told the station. She said Healdsburg has not had rail service in 70 years.
SMART did not respond to The Inquirer’s request for comment on the contract. Stacy and Witbeck, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the advocacy group TransForm also did not respond.
How Healdsburg sees it
Healdsburg, a town of about 11,000, says it is ready.
“Healdsburg is excited to see the train come to town,” Ray Holley of the Healdsburg City Manager’s Office said in response to questions from The Inquirer. “Our voters supported the SMART sales tax and we look forward to having this transit option for our residents and visitors.”
Mr. Holley said city staff have been reviewing SMART’s crossing plans. “City staff have been working with SMART staff to review proposed crossing improvements and coordinate city needs within the railroad right of way,” he wrote. “There are two station locations under consideration by SMART; details of construction impacts will vary based on which location is selected.”
The construction itself has not been a point of friction. “The Council has not raised concerns about construction impacts or timing,” he wrote. “As we get closer to the actual construction, the City will work closely with SMART to ensure that construction impacts are properly monitored and mitigated.”
The station is another matter. SMART is choosing between the historic depot on Hudson Street and a site on Vine Street between North and West Matheson Streets, according to The Press Democrat, and is taking public feedback through Nov. 30 before a board vote in December.
“The City has strong opinions about the station location,” Mr. Holley wrote. “Of the two options under consideration, the City Council expressed a preference in 2024 for the historic train depot near downtown, an area that fosters transit-oriented growth and has been set aside for this purpose.”
A line that keeps growing
The extension comes as SMART’s ridership climbs. The district averaged 5,754 weekday riders in September, up 23 percent from a year earlier, and carried nearly 1.5 million passengers in the fiscal year that ended June 30, The Press Democrat reported.
Those numbers are still small next to BART or Caltrain. But for a line that opened in 2017, each new town on the map widens who can leave the car at home on the Highway 101 corridor. After Healdsburg, the stated targets are Geyserville and Cloverdale.
Desmond Akers covers the cities and counties of the greater Bay Area, from Oakland and San Jose to the Peninsula, the North Bay and the East Bay suburbs, for Around the Region. More from Desmond Akers
