Re: November 27, '07 Study Session of the Menlo Park City Council, 5:30 p.m.Council Chambers

Hon. Mayor and Council Members, et al;

Note: (from attachment)

"Notwithstanding the funding allocation process described in paragraph
(1), in consideration with the department and the Public Utilities Commission, the California Transportation Commission shall allocate one hundred million dollars ($100,000.00) of the funds in the account to high-priority railroad crossing improvements, including grade separation project, that are not part of the process established in Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 2450) of Division 3 of the Streets and Highways Code. The allocation of funds under this paragraph shall be made in consultation and coordination with the High Speed Rail Authority created pursuant to Division 19.5 (commencing with Section (85000) of the Public Utilities Code."

As a follow-up to my e-mail of November 16, '07 I must emphasize that immediate changes are needed at least at the Ravenswood railroad grade crossing which was on a state priority list for decades.

The next day after using additional gasoline to drive down to Laurel and thence to a traffic light, avoiding making a left turn from Alma to cross the tracks, the problems described previously were magnified. As I approached Alma on Ravenswood there were cars crossing straight from both sides of Alma, plus cars turning right and left from the tracks on to Alma.

According to the law I, going straight on Ravenswood to cross the tracks, must stop for the car on the right. That car must stop for the car on the right at the tracks turning left. Consequently all met hesitatingly in the middle at the railroad crossing and the person behind the left-turn car from the tracks trapped the car behind it on the rails, as did the car turning right on to Alma when a pedestrian stepped off the curb and stopped it suddenly.

This backs up traffic all the way past the Laurel traffic signal even without the scores of pedestrians, some with strollers, another with a wheelchair, at that corner of Alma and Ravenswood coming from SRI, the library, etc. whether or not they are waving their red flags.

Then, once across the tracks, bicyclists from Merrill illegally shoot around traffic in the middle of the block to El Camino, stretch buses are constantly turning there and stopping other vehicles, also trapping them on the tracks because there is no warning.

These are the most dangerous and polluted areas between El Camino, the railroad tracks, and Alma with no traffic control. Traffic comes from every direction and this underscores the need for changes now. Cameras would be a start since former studies, numerous offers of mitigation, warnings from the Public Utilities Commission, and failure to demand an environmental impact report from Caltrain when the railroad was given an
"extreme makeover" with the addition of Baby Bullet expresses racing
through town, have been ignored. Your attention is directed to recent letters from the Railroad Division of the P.U.C on the Derry and Linfield Oaks projects.

With this e-mail I am requesting a reply from the transportation department so that the public may be directed to all previous studies of this intersection, including that of the closure of Alma at one point. Further delays of action may be disastrous.

Furthermore, Menlo Park residents must understand that railroad grade crossings are controlled by the state and federal governments. It is hoped that the study session tomorrow will be intelligent and fruitful without wishful thinking that can never come to pass. It is time to face the facts, which are that:

With or without high speed rail, funding for grade separations is ongoing with shares from the Measure A sales taxes, the state P.U.C. and highway funds and certain federal funding. The Peninsula state and congressional representatives have stated that they will not approve federal funding for the high speed rail unless it uses the Caltrain line. The Caltrain Corridor is the chosen route of the Metropolitan Transportation Commission which is going before the HSR Authority in December.

In short, the decision-making on grade separations, or their closures, is out of the hands of this or any other city and of Caltrain.

Let us demand mitigation measures for the unfortunate people who already live alongside this railroad and refrain from adding further housing units in its environs.

Margaret Petitjean, Menlo Park

attached mail follows:

http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PUBLISHED/FINAL_DECISION/70179-02.htm Received on Mon Nov 26 13:34:54 2007