The Burlingame City Council unanimously voted to move forward with putting $3.8 million in city funds toward a redesign of a project to raise the rail line above the road without a Broadway train station.
In March, councilmembers were dismayed to learn that the city’s original plans for the grade separation at the dangerous Broadway intersection with a rebuilt train station — were likely to cost $889 million total.
That was more than double the original price estimated by Caltrain, the agency in charge of the project design. At their May 19 meeting, councilmembers decided that funding a redesign of up to 65% completion for a pared-down grade separation was the only feasible path forward.
“You cannot save your way to success. You have to invest in this process,” Councilmember Donna Colson said. “This is the most dangerous intersection in the state of California. It is a top priority for this city.”
In total, the option to fund a grade separation without a station would still cost around $615 million, according to Caltrain’s most recent estimates.
City staff worked with the project’s partners, including Caltrain and the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, to get pricing for the redesign from $19.9 million to $15.3 million, $3.8 million of which will come from the city. The reduction reflects a $1 million decrease in the design fee and a $700,000 reduction in Caltrain’s costs.
Vice Mayor Michael Brownrigg — who, at a previous council meeting, firmly impressed upon Caltrain the grievousness of their financial misestimations — said that he was satisfied the organization would be pitching in for the next phase of the project.
“With Caltrain stepping up, putting money on the table, I can then sleep at night and tell my residents [Caltrain is] not just wasting money — it’s their money too,” he said.
Serious concerns remain over whether the project can obtain the funding needed to complete construction, especially given the tenuous state of federal grant funding and fears around tariff-related price increases.
There’s currently a $586 million funding gap on the project. If all the funding the city is lobbying for comes through — including $15 million from Burlingame, $280 million from the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, $110 million in state funding, as well as federal funding — that still leaves a gap of around $147 million.
Councilmembers emphasized that finding a more cost-effective way to pursue grade separations was likely a necessity not only for the city, but also for the region and the entire state of California.
“We have to build institutional knowledge and awareness to address this corridor and not treat it as a bunch of one-off, city-sponsored efforts,” Mayor Peter Stevenson said.
In regards to the redesign, the city is putting barriers in place to ensure they aren’t financially blindsided again, Public Works Director Syed Murtuza said, including searching for an outside resource to peer-review Caltrain’s design estimations. Brownrigg seconded a desire to see new protocol for the design effort.
“We cannot do the same thing, spending the same amount of money, and expect different results. Whether finding outside advice, finding someone more creative, I don’t know,” he said. “I do fear we’ll spend that $15 million and [still] have that number that’s astronomical and unaffordable.”
(1) comment
There is no "Fiscal Cliff" - our transit agencies are very well funded. That's why we have 28 of them.
There is however a "Public Transit Grift" going on where board members at MTC, SMCTA, C/CAG will do anything to move money away from transit and towards car centric development.
"Grade Separation" is just one example of this grifter move. Caltrain does not need the grade separation they own the right-of-way. The county doesn't need grade separation. Local cars and drivers want grade separation.
Every city needs to decide if they can afford it. And yet SMCTA and C/CAG and Caltrain are deeply involved in county wide grade separation projects and their financing. So they move public transit funding coming from MTC, SMCTA, Measure A&W towards more car projects.
Now compare that to ped/bike bridges across ECR, Caltrain, 101. In those cases C/CAG, Caltrain, Caltrans, SMCTA say it's none of their business and its all on the city itself if they want that. That's why they all talk about Burlingame Grade Separation but keep quiet after sabotaging the Holly Street and Hillsdale Blvd ped/bike bridges with their highway expansion.
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