HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 2505-4671CITY OF PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
Special Meeting
Tuesday, May 27, 2025
Council Chambers & Hybrid
5:30 PM
Agenda Item
8.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
City Council
Staff Report
From: City Manager
Report Type: INFORMATION REPORTS
Lead Department: Transportation
Meeting Date: May 27, 2025
Report #:2505-4671
TITLE
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
This report provides the Project Management Plan prepared for the Rail Grade Separation
Projects at Churchill Avenue, Meadow Drive, and Charleston Road crossings along the Caltrain
Corridor.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Caltrain staff in coordination with City staff developed a Project Management Plan (PMP) that
outlines the scope, goals, budget, timeline, and deliverables. In addition, PMP will 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 was reviewed
by the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority
(VTA). After seeking feedback from the Rail Committee, Federal Railroad Administration and
Valley Transportation Agency staff prepared the Final Project Management Plan.
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 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 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
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 10, 2024; Item 13, Action Item, SR# 2402-2957
https://recordsportal.paloalto.gov/Weblink/DocView.aspx?id=82879
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
review and direction at key decision points.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
ATTACHMENTS
APPROVED BY:
Link to Project Management Plan