Iit's because of grade separations for Menlo Park that I got so
interested in Caltrain a number of years ago, then the high speed
train project, then Quiet Zones, and now urban mass transit. In this
article you need to see the projected cost for each grade crossing,
according to Caltrain. In another news article in one of today's
papers, we read that the cost of "rebar" steel for construction has
jumped 40%. China, India and Thailand are scarfing up everything
available. What do you think that will do for the cost of rail
related development projects?

Martin
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Rail separations could relieve traffic woes
7 hrs ago
May 2, 2007 3:00 AM (7 hrs ago)
by Edward Carpenter, The Examiner

San Carlos, Calif. (Map, News) - Reducing traffic congestion and
improving safety on the Peninsula are two of the top reasons Caltrain
should move ahead with plans to separate its train tracks from
vehicles and pedestrians, according to a new study, officials said
Monday.
But such a major project is costly and still a long way from coming
to fruition, officials said.
So-called grade separations - in which a road is depressed below or
bridged above the tracks, eliminating road-level crossings - are
being considered for a handful of Peninsula cities, from Burlingame
and Redwood City to Menlo Park and Atherton, according to the San
Mateo County Grade Separation Footprint Planning Study, released last
month. Similar projects are also in the works for San Bruno and San
Mateo, said Jonah Weinberg, spokesman for Caltrain and its sister
organization, the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, which
funded the study.
One intersection where submerging the street below the tracks could
go a long way toward easing traffic congestion is at Broadway in
Burlingame, the city's only access point to U.S. Highway 101, said
Syed Murtuza, Burlingame's assistant public works director.

"The [Caltrain] crossing is just one block from the freeway, so there
are traffic jams every time a train crosses [Broadway]," Murtuza said.
Separating the streets from the tracks, as has been done at Millbrae
Avenue in Millbrae and Hillsdale Boulevard in San Mateo, also reduces
the chances of vehicles and pedestrians being hit by a train,
Burlingame Mayor Terry Nagel said.
Local parents rallied for safety upgrades and fencing along Caltrain
tracks after 13-year-old Fatih Kuc, a Burlingame resident, was hit
and killed by a train when he was illegally walking along the tracks
last April. A total of 16 people died on Caltrain tracks in 2006, the
highest since 2000.
In Redwood City, where roads cross the tracks in a half-dozen
locations, raising safety concerns, as many as five new grade
separations could be built to resemble Chicago's "L" train, said
Susan Moeller, Redwood City redevelopment director.
While Caltrain isn't opposed to separations, it doesn't see them as
integral to its operations, and the deficit-ridden agency can't be
counted on to pay for them, Weinberg said.
A major stumbling block to building the touted separations is the
cost. At $82 million to $165 million, the Broadway Burlingame
separation would be the least expensive, while others could run as
high as $730 million, according to early estimates.
"The bottom line is that if we could afford it and achieve it, we'd
want to separate every single crossing where there is a conflict
between traffic and the train," county Supervisor and Transportation
Authority board member Rich Gordon said. The reality, however, is
that completely separating the train from vehicles and pedestrians is
a long way off, officials said.
ecarpenter@examiner.com

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Martin Engel
1621 Stone Pine Lane
Menlo Park, CA 94025
650:323-1670
martinengel@earthlink.net
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