|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
In light of findings from a $1 million study paid for by Facebook, SamTrans is recommending a phased revamp of the Dumbarton transportation corridor with changes to the highway bridge, a rehabilitation of the old rail bridge that runs parallel to it, and a reconfiguring of arteries that feed the bridge, including Bayfront Expressway, Marsh Road and Willow Road on the Peninsula.
SamTrans plans to discuss the study on Monday, Sept. 25, in the Menlo Park Senior Center at 100 Terminal Ave. The program starts at 6:30 p.m.
In the study, SamTrans also recommends, by 2020, to expand transbay bus routes that would run from the Union City BART station to Menlo Park and Redwood City or south to Mountain View and Sunnyvale.
Changes to ease congestion on either side of the bridge – for people seeking to connect to U.S. 101 on the Peninsula, and for people seeking to connect to I-880 in the East Bay – are also recommended.
Systems to expedite bus traffic are recommended for Bayfront Expressway and Willow Road. “Traffic signal priority” devices would enable buses to hold a green light longer. Roads might also be reconfigured to give buses priority over cars, according to SamTrans spokesperson Dan Lieberman.
Improvements to the toll plaza and the addition of park and ride facilities are also recommended for further consideration.
SamTrans recommends rebuilding, by 2030, the abandoned rail bridge (which runs parallel to the highway bridge, but is in a state of disrepair) and activating a rail shuttle across the Bay to connect Redwood City to Newark. By 2035, it recommends extending the shuttle to the Union City BART station.
Another action proposed to ease congestion would be to build a one-lane, bus-only overpass at Bayfront Expressway and Willow Road. The overpass would be for public and private buses.
The bus-only overpass would be at the Dumbarton Rail right-of-way (where the abandoned rail lines are now) over Willow Road and would accommodate buses destined for Redwood City and other points north, or potentially U.S. 101 if a connection were to be built, according to the report.
In Facebook’s recently released master plan for its Willow Campus, there is a space designated for a potential Willow Road transit center where buses and trains could connect more easily with roads and rails.
Several options were proposed for configuring such a design, depending on whether express lanes would be added on Willow Road to link to U.S. 101.
Because of major logistical problems to do this, including having to tunnel or trench roadways or acquire private land, adding express lanes on Willow Road appears unlikely, according to the report.
A more likely path forward would be to add express lanes on Bayfront Expressway that would link up with U.S. 101 at Marsh Road, according to SamTrans Principal Planner Melissa Reggiardo.
At a public meeting held Aug. 16 in East Palo Alto, locals expressed worries about the proposed bus overpass, also known as a “flyover,” and wondered why plans previously discussed to install a bicycle and pedestrian path along the abandoned Dumbarton rail corridor between Redwood City and East Palo Alto was not recommended for further study.
Ms. Reggiardo said it was because the right-of-way is not wide enough to accommodate a revitalized two-track train line and a 12 to 16-foot-wide bike and pedestrian path, with a 25-foot recommended buffer zone.
Following through on SamTrans’ recommended projects would require the cooperation of a number of agencies: Caltrain, Union Pacific, the Alameda County Transportation Commission, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Caltrans, the State Transportation Board, and the cities the routes would pass through, according to SamTrans Principal Planner Melissa Reggiardo. In all, it could cost more than $2 billion.
Proposed funding strategies include dedicating all funding currently available to the project and seeking state, regional, local, private and federal funding, development fees, fares and tolls, and federal and state financing.
SamTrans led the study, but consultants from firms CDM Smith, WSP, Fehr & Peers, Arup and HDR also worked on the project.
Go to is.gd/study305 to see the 267-page study, and go to is.gd/more497 to see the appendices. Diagrams of options to reconfigure Willow Road and the Willow Road/Bayfront Expressway intersection can be found in Appendix F.
People can comment on the study’s recommendations by phone at (650) 508-6283; by email to reggiardom@samtrans.com; or by mail to: Melissa Reggiardo, San Mateo County Transit District, P.O. Box 3006, 1250 San Carlos Ave., San Carlos, CA 94070. The deadline to submit comments is Friday, Sept. 29.
SamTrans officials presented the study’s findings to the Menlo Park City Council on Aug. 22.
__