Although it’s unknown whether grade separations along the Caltrain line will happen in Menlo Park, the City Council agreed the impacts of raising or lowering the train tracks at key intersections are worth a closer look.
Council members voted 5-0 on Oct. 16 to hold a study session later this year regarding the costs, impacts, and feasibility of separating the tracks from the road at the intersection of four Menlo Park streets: Ravenswood, Oak Grove, Glenwood and Encinal avenues.
Proponents of grade separations say allowing traffic, bicycles and pedestrians to pass over or under more heavily used tracks would reduce congestion and improve safety, but critics say constructing grade separations would worsen congestion and severely impact nearby homes and businesses.
The study session is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 29.
Although all council members supported further study of the issue, some questioned whether grade separations — which could cost anywhere from $95 million to $447 million in Menlo Park alone, according to the most recent cost estimates from Caltrain — could happen without funding from the California High Speed Rail Authority.
As part of a plan to send high-speed trains from Los Angeles and San Diego in the south to San Francisco and Sacramento in the north, trains that travel up to 220 miles per hour could use the Caltrain line. In that case, grade separations would be required, and paid for by the California High Speed Rail Authority.
Public Works Director Kent Steffens said grade separations could happen without high-speed rail, as the San Mateo County Transportation Authority has $250 million available to put toward the project.
But with a recent Caltrain study estimating grade separation costs as high as $1.6 billion in San Mateo County, consensus at the Oct. 16 meeting was that high-speed rail is still a major variable in the grade separation equation.
“I don’t know how you can study grade separations without knowing if there’s going to be high-speed rail,” said resident Milton Borg.
Councilman Andy Cohen said Caltrain and other transportation bodies have kept Menlo Park “in the dark” about key transportation issues, such as the likelihood of grade separations, and labeled efforts to bring high-speed rail up the Peninsula a potential “pie in the sky.”
But the council ultimately decided it should further study the issue, even if the feasibility of grade separations depends on outside factors.
“We may not be the city or the force in control as to whether or not grade separations are implemented,” said Fran Dehn, president of the Menlo Park Chamber of Commerce. “If that’s the case, we should at least be in a position to dictate how we want our city to be modified.”
