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Last week, the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District (SMART) sold and closed $191 million multi-modal rate bonds to fund construction of the commuter-rail line and bicycle trail that voters in California’s Marin and Sonoma counties approved in 2008.

The sale of $191 million in bonds will net SMART $171 million that will help buy the trains and build the rail line, bridges, crossings and train stations, SMART officials said in a prepared statement.

SMART plans to build a 70-mile line between Marin and Sonoma counties. The system’s first leg between Santa Rosa and San Rafael is scheduled to open in 2014.

The bond proceeds will be put in an escrow account pending the results of a “Repeal SMART” movement aimed at overturning the 2008 Measure Q vote to use a quarter-cent sales tax to fund SMART. When the repeal effort deadline passes at the end of next month, the bonds will be converted to a fixed interest rate and the money will be used to fund construction, SMART officials said.