City to consider looking at RR grade separations City to consider looking at RR grade separations (April 21, 2004)

Undercrossings would move traffic better, but are expensive

by Don Kazak

With 10 "baby bullet" express Caltrains starting daily service on June 7, the issue of building underpasses in Palo Alto streets is resurfacing.

"The pressure for this will increase with the bullet trains," Mayor Bern Beecham said. More trains mean additional delays on the four roads that now cross the tracks: Charleston Road, Meadow Drive, Churchill Avenue and Alma Street.

But the timeline for building them, if that's what the city wants, could take 20 years.

The City Council's Finance and Public Works Committee voted unanimously late last year to include consideration of grade separations in the city's strategic transportation plan, which is scheduled to go before the council sometime in June.

Even if approved, it merely directs staff to find grant money for a study. Each grade separation would cost $30 million -$50 million.

"We absolutely need outside funding," said Mayor Bern Beecham. "We have huge infrastructure deficits."

A grade separation at Charleston came up during the discussion of the Charleston corridor late last year and earlier this year. The Chamber of Commerce thought the idea should be studied.

A grade separation is not part of the corridor plan, partly because of planning and the cost entailed, but it got people talking.

Skip Justman mentioned it to community activist Will Beckett last fall when Justman was running for City Council, and the two are now trying to promote the idea.

There are both benefits and concerns about grade separations, said Joe Kott, the city's chief transportation official. The benefits are increased safety at the crossings and reduced congestion.

The concerns, Kott said, are the possible ramifications on traffic patterns in adjacent neighborhoods.

Grade separations are already drawing fire from at least one irate resident. "No way but over my dead and bleeding body," William H. Cutler wrote the City Council April 7. He lives on Park Boulevard near the Meadow Drive crossing.

Cutler said others would oppose the plan too "if someone suggested tearing down houses in their neighborhood to make room for a huge structure in their back yards that encourages more and speedier traffic on their neighborhood street."

Caltrain likes the idea, though. "We've had informal discussions with Caltrain engineers," Kott said. "It's more efficient for them."

While the cost of building grade separations may sound prohibitive, about a half-dozen of them have been built in Redwood City, Belmont and San Carlos in the last decade.

It's no coincidence that so many have been built in San Mateo County and none in Santa Clara County, Beckett said.

"San Mateo County decided 20 years ago it would have grade separations at every crossing," he said, "and the plans started to roll in. Santa Clara County stuck its head in the sand."

Beckett said planning for one or more grade separations could take five years, with another 15 years to fund and build.

"The trick is to understand what the traffic impacts will be," he said. "Without studying it and analyzing it thoroughly, we don't have an option to choose. We need to put it on the table to reject or approve."

Beckett thinks that with more trains coming in the future -- especially if Caltrain is eventually electrified, as planned -- grade separations will be built in Palo Alto.

"We need a plan in place for the funding so someone doesn't tell us how to do it," he said.

If the council agrees with the finance committee, Kott will soon start looking for money to fund a grade separation study. The portion of the local sales tax earmarked for transportation projects in Santa Clara County is not available for such studies, Kott said.

Don Kazak can be e-mailed at dkazak@pwqeekly.com

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