Dear Thomas,

Thanks for the El Camino Tour on Saturday. I was dismayed to hear JoAnne Goldberg state that the Home Ave. Bicycle/Pedestrian Undercrossing in Palo Alto was a $10 Million project. Today I contacted Menlo Park's Public Works Director Kent Steffens and the PA City Staff to set the record straight. The City of Palo Alto provided to me today the information in the table below which shows that the construction cost was indeed $4.2 million. Design, environmental review and construction management fees added another $1.2 million for a total of $5.4 million. Other than Palo Alto's own staff time spent on a feasibility study and monitoring the project, 100% of project costs were covered by outside grants and developer's fees. Most of these funding sources are available today to the City of Menlo Park for a similar project.

In Menlo Park a Bicycle/Pedestrian undercrossing of the Caltrain tracks has been in the General Plan since 1994. This project was established by the City Council as a priority project in 1998. In 2002 our engineering estimate for the Cambridge/Willow undercrossing was $1.9 million. In 2005 it was again specifically identified in the Bicycle Master Plan as a high priority project which was subsequently approved by the City Council. If we are looking for signs of life, we can be relieved that the council has approved $50K for another site feasibility study.

I trust that this clarification helps us eliminate the barrier of the Caltrain tracks in order to give pedestrians and bicyclists in Menlo Park a safe alternative as they move about the city.

Steve Schmidt
Former Council Member 1994 - 2002

*_Palo Alto Homer Ave._**_ Bicycle/Pedestrian Undercrossing_*

*_Project Funding and Project Cost_*

*_
_*

*_Project Funding _*  

$2,035,510 TEA-21 federal funds Congestion Mitigation & Air Quality (CMAQ)

$1,000,000 Measure B Funds, Bicycle Expenditure Program

$330,000 State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) matching funds

$350,680 Local funds and developer mitigation fees

$225,000 City Electric Utility Fund (Project 8930)

$324,320 Transportation Fund for Clean Air (TFCA) program funds

$502,000 Federal Transportation Enhancements (TEA) program

$200,000 Transportation Development Act (TDA) funds from VTA

_$464,000 Transportation for Livable Communities (TLC) _

*$5,431,510 Total project Funding*

*_ _*

*_ _*

*_Project Cost_*  

$678,200 Environmental/Design

$4,230,500 Construction and contingency, Utilities, right-of-way,

_$519,500 Construction management costs _

*$5,428,200 Total*** *  

• does _not_ include staff time and the feasibility study prepared by

Transportation Division   Received on Mon Feb 11 15:12:06 2008