An ambitious transit-oriented planning model for Petaluma’s downtown and river area will return to the City Council with modifications after concerns were raised on several fronts late Monday night.

The seats for the new Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit commuter rail cars have passed required safety tests, a month after failing the first round of testing.

A group of property owners trying to organize a united front in dealing with the SMART rail line say they are not looking to derail the project, but merely provide a counterweight to the agency’s political and financial might.

A Petaluma man locked in a dispute with the SMART commuter rail system is hoping to draw track-side neighbors from all along the route to a meeting tonight to consider how to work together.

With construction crews finishing track replacement work through Santa Rosa this month, officials at Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit are starting to plan for the final stages of the $360 million project that will link Santa Rosa to San Rafael.

Healdsburg is moving ahead with a traffic roundabout at a key intersection, but without the opposition the circular intersections have engendered in some towns.

More than $2.7 billion is needed to repair crumbling pavement on county roads and city streets over the next decade in Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties, a new report has found.

Sonoma County’s ‘electric trail,’ a fledgling network of charging stations for electric vehicles, continues to expand. It’s part of a plan to draw more people in electric cars to the county and also make it easier for locals to recharge theirs when they drive from town to town.

The use of eminent domain powers was authorized by Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit directors Wednesday to obtain easements necessary to consolidate three rail crossings into one in south Petaluma.

The pace of work to widen Highway 101 through Sonoma County is picking up and shifting to Petaluma, where four major projects to rebuild overpasses and bridges will start within the next few months. It will also probably make Petaluma traffic a mess until work is completed in late 2014.