Dumbarton study slated for release

SamTrans’ Dumbarton Transportation Corridor Study considered a variety of short-, medium- and long-term improvements for the South Bay corridor spanning San Mateo, Santa Clara and Alameda counties. Ideas range from improving traffic signals to increasing express bus service and rehabilitating the unused rail bridge for a new train system.

“We looked at a myriad of possibilities and really compared them by looking at how much ridership we can potentially generate, which translates to them getting out of their cars,” said April Chan, chief officer of planning and grants with the Transportation Authority.

The thrust of the study was driven in part by efforts to make use of the inoperational Dumbarton Rail Bridge, an aged structure owned by SamTrans immediately south of the car bridge Highway 84. It’s a rare opportunity to create another east-west access route in the environmentally-sensitive San Francisco Bay. 

While upper cost estimates for that long-term — and long-contemplated — improvement top $900 million and would require a litany of regulatory and environmental approvals, it’s a possibility transit officials hope will bring supporters on board.

“Any option, either operating an exclusive busway on the rail bridge or operating rail service on the rail bridge, that bridge will need to be significantly rehabilitated — both the foundation and the deck itself. So that would be one of the major capital costs,” Chan said.

Ideas include creating a “shuttle” rail service to connect Redwood City’s Caltrain station to East Bay transit systems such as Altamont Corridor Express and Bay Area Rapid Transit; or eventually integrating the Dumbarton rail with Caltrain, said SamTrans’ Principal Planner Melissa Reggiardo.

Other improvements that could be accomplished in the shorter term involve the Caltrans-owned Highway 84 Dumbarton car bridge. One goal is to make mass transit more convenient and desirable in an effort to get people to ditch their cars. Possibilities include increasing express bus service while adding new stops at major employment destinations, and providing priority traffic signalization so riding the bus could be quicker than driving a car, Chan and Reggiardo explained.

“Right now [buses are] sitting in the same traffic as other travelers. We wanted to see if there were some things we could do to make it more of an attractive option for users,” Chan said.

More infrastructure intensive projects the study looked at included improving the ramps leading onto and off the bridge, as well as creating managed lanes on the six-lane Highway 84. The study evaluated taking an existing lane in each direction and turning them into express lanes where single-drivers can pay to join, or carpool lanes. 

A vast array of stakeholders

Any potential improvements would likely require extensive collaboration spanning multiple local, regional and state agencies. In developing the study, SamTrans consulted with Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, which operates bus service along the car bridge; Caltrans, which owns the state highway; the Alameda County Transportation Commission and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. Staff also considered the surrounding communities including Redwood City, Menlo Park and East Palo Alto to the west, and Newark, Union City and Fremont to the east.

Part of the study included analyzing traffic patters that showed nearly 80 percent of morning commuters were coming from the East Bay to San Mateo County and parts of northern Santa Clara County. This might not come as a big surprise as many major job centers are located along the Peninsula while housing prices have generally been lower in the East Bay.

Business groups and large employers, such as Facebook, also have a vested interest in efforts to alleviate congestion, Chan said.

“I think the businesses are very interested because they want to be able to have their employees be able to get where they need to go and not have to travel great distances or get stuck in traffic. So it’s really more of an efficiency factor,” Chan explained.

She noted businesses have been active in looking for Bay Area transit solutions with support offered toward Caltrain electrification and the proposed Highway 101 managed lanes project in San Mateo County.

In the Dumbarton case, Facebook’s $1.2 million contribution enabled SamTrans to dust off up a previously shelved proposal to study a modern use for the old rail bridge. With the completed study in hand, the last thing they want is to let it go unused, Chan said.

“We don’t want to do a study and have the study sit on the shelf. We are hoping there will be the will to I think pursue a number of these improvements. Because there is a clear transportation need in light of all the congestion,” Chan said.

The first place they might be able to flex the report could be with state legislators and the MTC, currently working on asking voters to hike bridge tolls.

Competition for funding

Known as Regional Measure 3, residents in the nine Bay Area counties may be asked in 2018 to consider phasing in toll increases of up to $3. There will likely be fierce competition for those funds as billions of dollars worth of transportation improvements are sought around the bustling Bay.

Chan noted the study could be used in part to leverage support and highlight a need for funding to be channeled to the south corridor. Bay Area legislators have been ironing out the details of a proposed funding plan, and the MTC has also considered preliminary spending proposals for the revenue should RM3 pass the two-thirds voter threshold.

During the last bridge toll increase Regional Measure 2, Dumbarton ultimately missed out on most of promised nearly $135 million after plans stalled and the majority of the money was diverted to other projects. This time, officials hope to receive a larger portion of the RM3 revenue. However, San Mateo County projects were scant in the first iteration and it wasn’t until recently that $130 million was explicitly suggested to go back toward the Dumbarton corridor and another $50 million for the Highway 101/State Route 92 interchange. Much of the funding has been proposed to support BART, and more than $1 billion toward projects in the North Bay corridor, according to an MTC report.

Chan noted there are other funding sources that they’ll look to draw from, including the recently approved Senate Bill 1, better known as the statewide gas tax and vehicle registration fee increase dedicated to transportation. San Mateo County-controlled funding from its half-cent sales tax Measure A is another possibility, and Chan noted many are hopeful the business community and neighboring jurisdictions as well as transit districts will also offer support.

In the meantime, the SamTrans Board of Directors is slated to review the study at its Aug. 2 meeting. Continuing to gather stakeholder input will be key, and public forums are set for Aug. 15 and 16. The San Mateo County Board of Supervisors is also looking to review the results of the study as it considers working with SamTrans to pose another local half-cent sales tax increase to voters in 2018.

Visit the planning page at samtrans.com for more information about the Dumbarton Transportation Corridor Study. The draft report will be posted after the Aug. 2 meeting.

samantha@smdailyjournal.com

(650) 344-5200 ext. 106

Twitter: @samantha_weigel