For the City Council to make an intelligent decision on which grade separation option to choose, the Menlo Park transportation department needs to determine where the temporary (shoo-fly) tracks will be for options B and C.
Option A, with the tracks at their current level, can be built without shoo-fly track. But options B and C, which involve elevating the tracks, will require temporary track alongside the raised berm, greatly increasing the impact of construction.
The shoo-fly track would temporarily replace Alma Street or temporarily cover the Caltrain parking lot, and would likely involve the demolition of several houses in the northern part of the city where the right-of-way is very narrow.
Sue Kayton
Doris Drive, Menlo Park
Joan Lane, trailblazing volunteer and Stanford’s go-to for ‘sticky problems,' dies at 97March 25, 2026 3:23 pm