The long planned expansion of a walking and biking pathway parallel to the North Bay commuter rail is facing a legal challenge from landowners who aren’t keen on the trail cutting through their backyards.
Sonoma-Marin Area Regional Transit, or SMART, has already constructed more than 39 miles of trail alongside its commuter rail tracks. The agency’s ultimate goal is a multiuse pathway that runs the 70-mile length of the entire SMART corridor, which winds north from Larkspur in Marin County. The train currently goes only as far north as Windsor; a station in Healdsburg is slated to open in 2028, followed later by Cloverdale, the planned end of the line.
SMART says it provides a way for people to access its 14 stations without needing to use a car. When completed, the pathway would also form the southern leg of the Great Redwood Trail, which could someday connect San Francisco Bay and Humboldt Bay…