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Palo Alto council delays decision on Caltrain grade separations after wide-ranging public testimony
Summary
After a staff briefing and nearly three hours of public comment on safety, property impacts and traffic, the Palo Alto City Council voted to continue consideration of grade-separation alternatives at Churchill, Meadow and Charleston to allow staff to return with travel-time and updated cost analyses.
PALO ALTO — The Palo Alto City Council on Dec. 10 paused a decision on whether to advance specific Caltrain grade-separation designs to 15% engineering, instead voting unanimously to continue the item to allow staff to provide additional technical analysis and updated cost estimates.
City staff opened the special meeting with a presentation of alternatives at the Churchill, Meadow and Charleston crossings. Rippan Bhatia, senior engineer in the Office of Transportation, said the project is led by Caltrain but advanced in collaboration with city staff and consultants and is moving into preliminary engineering and environmental documentation ahead of 15% design. "We are at the end of Q4 this year and really in early next year, starting the 15% design phase," said Jill Gibson, a Caltrain presenter, summarizing the schedule for design and environmental work.
Staff and Caltrain outlined trade-offs among hybrid (raising tracks, modest roadway changes), underpass (roadway depressed below tracks) and other variants,…
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