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Home My WebLink AboutStaff Report 2502-4228 Rail Committee Staff Report From: City Manager Report Type: ACTION ITEMS Lead Department: Transportation Meeting Date: March 18, 2025 Report #:2502-4228 TITLE Summary of the Draft Project Management Plan for the advancement through Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Documentation phases of the grade separation project at Churchill Avenue, Meadow Drive, and Charleston Road crossings. RECOMMENDATION No action is required. The Project Management Plan is currently in review by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). Rail Committee will receive the Project Management Plan after FRA and VTA complete their review. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Caltrain staff in coordination with City staff developed a draft Project Management Plan (PMP) that outlines the scope, goals, budget, timeline, and deliverables. In addition, the PMP also serves as a tool to monitor and track the project progress and document risks, to enable the team to address any potential impacts to the project budget and timeline. The draft PMP is currently under review by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA). BACKGROUND Grade separation of rail crossings in Palo Alto along the Caltrain corridor has been an ongoing project. Over the past several years, the City has developed various alternatives for grade separations at the three existing at-grade rail crossings at Churchill Avenue, Meadow Drive, and Charleston Road. The City has also explored adding an active transportation crossing in the vicinity of these rail crossings. With the support of consultants and community input, the City developed and winnowed down project alternatives with a goal of selecting a single preferred alternative for grade separation at each of these crossings. After various studies and refinements to the alternatives, the Rail Committee on May 23, 2024 (Staff Report # 2404-29521) recommended the City Council advance the following into the Conceptual Development phase in preparation for the Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Documentation phases: •For Churchill Avenue at-grade crossing: Partial Underpass as preferred alternative with Closure as backup alternative. The partial underpass alternative will include the bicycle and pedestrian crossing at the Seale Avenue/Peers Park location. •For Meadow Drive and Charleston Road at-grade crossings: the Hybrid and Underpass alternatives The City Council, after hearing community input and Rail Committee recommendations at the June 10, 2024 (Staff Report 2402-25972) and June 18, 2024 (Staff Report 2406-31693) meetings, advanced these recommended alternatives into the Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Documentation phase of the project development. The Connecting Palo Alto grade separation project at Churchill Avenue, Meadow Drive, and Charleston Road successfully secured $6.0M in grant funding from the FRA and executed a Cooperative Agreement with VTA to secure $14.0M from Measure B Grade Separation funding for Preliminary Engineering and Environmental Documentation Phase. Caltrain will lead the efforts in this phase and City will act as project sponsor. ANALYSIS Caltrain staff, in coordination with City staff, developed a draft PMP that outlines the scope, goals, budget, timeline, and deliverables. It also details project execution, including how the project is monitored to ensure the project stays on track and meets its objectives. The PMP is a living document that will be modified from time to time based on the progress of the project. The development of the PMP is a requirement for FRA grant and is under FRA and VTA review. The PMP communicates the overall management strategy and the responsibilities, authorities, and policies guiding aspects of the Project, and delineates the processes by which project performance is measured, in response to the PMP requirements identified in the Cooperative Agreement. The PMP details the development process and outreach efforts for 1 Rail Committee , May 23, 2024; Item 1, Action Item, SR# 2404-2952 https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=9258 2 City Council , June 10, 2024; Item 13, Action Item, SR# 2402-2957 https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=82879 3 City Council , June 18, 2024; Item AA3, Action Item, SR# 2406-3169 https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=82944 developing the initial design to a 15% design level. To expedite this process, Caltrain plans to use an on-call General Engineering Consultant (GEC) to advance the technical design and engineering work needed to refine the concepts for City review and input, then develop the Locally Preferred Alternatives (LPAs) to a 15% design level. Caltrain will issue a Work Directive Proposal Request to their GEC on-call bench. The proposals from these consultants will be evaluated to select a consultant to perform this work. The design goals of this phase are to advance concepts that improve safety, improve mobility, reduce noise, and minimize potential private property impacts. FISCAL/RESOURCE IMPACT STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT updates to various committees and commissions, such as the City’s Rail Committee, VTA Ad Hoc Grade Separation meeting, and Caltrain Board Technology, Operations, Planning, and Safety (TOPS) Committee. The project team will bring the project to the City Council for review and direction at key decision points. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW APPROVED BY: