Active work begins March 30 on the nine-mile, Windsor-to-Healdsburg extension of the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit line, when a series of core samples will be bored to evaluate the substructure of the route and let road-builders know what lies beneath the surface.
Some of that work will take place in town at various spots between Matheson Street and North Street, as well as in the Healdsburg Station area itself, at 300 Hudson St. Eventually, all that work is projected to bring service to Healdsburg by December 2028. That may seem like a long time yet to wait, but it’s been a long time coming just to get to this point.
SMART currently operates 48 miles of rail in Marin and Sonoma counties, serving 14 stations between Larkspur and Windsor. The Healdsburg station has always been on its drawing boards, as has the northernmost station in Cloverdale. That one however has yet to be funded, while the money to bring the trains to Healdsburg is already in the pipeline.
According to the agency, $269 million in funding for the Healdsburg extension has already been secured through a combination of federal, state, regional and local grants…