Work on SMART Line Continuing

Work on Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit is progressing, with an Oakland firm selected Wednesday for the next phase of the project, that will include strengthening of the Puerto Suello Tunnel in San Rafael, installation of a new bridge to replace the existing Haystack Bridge over the Petaluma river and station platform finishes.

The ongoing improvements will be done by Shimmick Construction, which signed an $68.7 million contract with SMART this week.

"Progress has been rapid since we started construction in the summer of 2012," said Judy Arnold, SMART board chair and president of the Marin County Board of Supervisors, in a prepared statement. 

"This contract will deliver most of the remaining infrastructure for starting service in 2016, and the board is especially pleased that like our first construction contract, the winning proposal is from another Bay Area contractor, delivering local jobs."

As part of the work, station access ramps, stairs, shelters, lighting and seating will be put in, and a new maintenance facility built.

Project progress to date includes track reconstruction from Santa Rosa to Petaluma, final steps for permits to continue track construction into Marin in the Spring, signaling and communications systems design nearing completion with field installation beginning. 

The first train set is due to perform a test run on the new tracks early next year.

Shimmick Construction has completed major projects for BART, Cal-Train, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni) and other local agencies.