City and Caltrain present refined concepts for Churchill, Meadow and Charleston grade separations; staff seeks committee feedback

City of Palo Alto staff and Caltrain engineering presented refined conceptual designs on Sept. 16 for grade separations at Churchill Avenue (partial underpass), Meadow Drive and Charleston Road (hybrid and underpass variants) and asked the rail committee for initial feedback before advancing one or more alternatives to 15% design.

Dipan Bhatia, senior engineer with the city's Office of Transportation, and Edgar Torres, Caltrain design oversight, led the technical presentation. Bhatia reminded the committee that council previously selected a partial underpass as the locally preferred alternative at Churchill with a separate bicycle–pedestrian crossing at Seal Avenue; Meadow and Charleston had been advanced as hybrid and underpass options. Staff said the current phase is an initial refinement to reduce property impacts and improve operations before the 15% design phase.

Key technical findings and trade-offs

- Churchill (partial underpass with Seal Avenue bike/ped options): Staff described refinements that could locate most roadway work within the existing right-of-way by providing two northbound lanes split between an Upper and Lower Alma configuration; the proposal seeks to preserve a planting strip and meet fire access needs with a 20-foot lane width where required. Staff said adding a 4½-foot planting buffer…