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HomeMy Public PortalAbout20221019smRCfinalRAIL COMMITTEE SUMMARY MINUTES Page 1 of 17 Regular Meeting October 19, 2022 The Rail Committee of the City of Palo Alto met on this date in the Community Meeting Room and by virtual teleconference at 1:00 p.m. Present In Person: Kou (Chair), Burt Present Remotely: Cormack Absent: None Oral Communications Public Comment: 1. Leila Modarres, 101 Alma Street, stated Caltrain noise has been bothering the residents for several years and she has had to leave home several times because of the noise. She was grateful for the effort to reevaluate this and help create a more peaceful environment for the residents. 2. Adrian Brandt urged Caltrain and the Committee to pursue a prefab shoofly on the El Camino side of the existing San Francisquito Bridge structure. Shutting down service across that bridged area and shuttling people on buses for up to 2 years would be a disaster. Other grade separations have been constructed with single-track shooflies, and it is feasible to run the train schedule through a single track section during the construction period. He also supported the quiet zone. 3. Sheree Roth, also of 101 Alma Street, was very grateful the quiet zone was being considered because the train horn often wakes her at night. Action Items 1. Verbal Update on Interagency Activities A. Caltrain – No update provided B. VTA – No update provided DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 2 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 C. City Staff ACTION: No action taken Ripon Bhatia, Senior Engineer, discussed the grant applications submitted by the Office of Transportation for the grade separation project as part of the Multimodal Project Discretionary Grant for INFRA and Mega programs. The project was not selected for grant funding through the INFRA program, but staff is waiting to hear about the Mega grant and applying for more grants. With regard to the San Francisquito Creek Bridge project, staff followed up with Caltrain to reiterate that the City would like Caltrain to explore rehab and strengthening of the bridge and look into the benefit-cost analysis. There were discussions with Caltrain on their corridor grade separation study, which is in the beginning stages. Staff will keep involved. On the quiet zone study, staff has been working with Menlo Park and the consultant they have hired to evaluate the quiet zone and conduct analysis for Palo Alto Avenue. The consultant is in the data collection process and has performed preliminary analysis. The next step is to have a joint diagnostic meeting with CPUC and JPP, planned for November. Chair Kou asked for more information about the VTA ad hoc committee. Mr. Bhatia stated VTA has formed a new ad hoc committee for grade separation evaluation as part of the Measure B funding allocations, with members from Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto. Mayor Burt is representing Palo Alto in that committee, and the first meeting is on Friday. Mayor Burt provided context for the ad hoc committee that San Jose Vice Mayor Chappie Jones, Chair of VTA, had interest from the 3 different cities in looking at collaboration and understanding the roles of VTA and Caltrain on the grade separations. Chair Jones decided the best approach was to create an ad hoc to have dialogue and sharing of information on an ongoing basis to see what common interests the cities should be collaborating on. Mayor Burt asked if there was an update from VTA on funding for Measure B funds for grade separation. Mr. Bhatia stated VTA will be allocating funds for the additional studies currently being performed as part of the refinement of the plans. He stated it was $710,000 from VTA and a total of $800,000 to be spent, including 10% match from the cities required for Measure B. This is for the 3 major activities: refinement of the conceptual plans for Churchill Avenue and underpass alternatives at both Meadow and Charleston Avenue. In addition, staff is considering preliminary geotechnical studies as well as cost estimate DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 3 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 revisions for trench alternatives. There are also some contingency funds available in that. Public Comment: 1. Nadia Naik asked if there was an update on Measure A 2000 money for the update of the Palo Alto Intermodal Transit Center. Mr. Bhatia responded that the allocation previously from Measure A funds for the PAITC project is being explored. Philip Kamhi, Planning and Transportation Director, stated the VTA board had already prioritized projects for the use of that funding and this project was not selected as one of those. Chair Kou asked if the Measure A 2000 money is allocated for Palo Alto for the multimodal. Mayor Burt stated it is still within the Measure A guidelines but the dollars have all been assigned to other projects. 2. Shree Sandilya, Junior at Gunn High School and President of the Gunn Bike Club, had worked with Mr. Arnout to put out a survey regarding grade separation, with 167 responses from the community; 78% of respondents bike to school. The detour at Matadero Creek in light of the grade separation would cause a significantly longer time to get to school for 69% of students and 91% of parents responding. Trench was the preferred option for 61% of parents and 44% of students. More people would be prompted to drive to school when this construction is taking place. He suggested that sticking to either Meadow or Charleston would be beneficial to keep kids from having to take such a large detour. He asked the Committee to prioritize the road safety of the students walking and riding to school over the cars because so many kids bike to school. 2. Study Session to review comments received from various stakeholders to refine conceptual plans for Partial Underpass Alternative at Churchill Avenue and Underpass Alternatives at Meadow Drive and Charleston Road. ACTION: This item was continued to the November 18, 2022, special meeting DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 4 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 Philip Kamhi, Planning and Transportation Director, stated this study session is following on the City Council direction for staff to refine the underpass alternatives and to engage with key stakeholders. This item was to review the feedback from the stakeholders in order to refine the underpass alternative conceptual plans and review the existing right-of-way constraints, with some initial recommendations. Peter DeStefano, AECOM Consultant, reviewed comments from stakeholders. Some expressed concern about the high volume of bicyclists during peak times. With a few exceptions, the width of the ped-bike ramps was set at 10 feet. Staff recommends an increase to 12 feet based on comments received. This will potentially result in additional impacts to utilities and right-of-way and slightly increase the overall cost. He showed a cross-section of the crossing at Kellogg. The proposed increase will reduce the lane width on each side of the street from 11.5 to 10.5 feet. An additional increase would result in potential loss of the landscape strip and the planting on each side of the street. Mayor Burt asked if there would be parking on the streets in the 10.5-foot model and if 10.5 feet was a comfortable width for a residential street without high volume. Mr. DeStefano stated there would be loss of parking and recommended no narrower than 10 feet. Mayor Burt asked where the bike flow is coming from using the Kellogg location versus Seale and whether an analysis of that had been done. Mr. Kamhi stated the discussion between Kellogg and Seale is to be evaluated in the Bicycle and Pedestrian Transportation Plan. The Safe Routes to School team will be very involved in that input. Mayor Burt stated a survey of Paly bike riders and origins like the one the Gunn students provided would give an indication of who is riding from where, the present volume of riders from North of Churchill who take that route, and also if that would change with these considered improvements. He suggested that as a way to gather meaningful data and then modeling the bicycle flow there. He stated there were not many high school students living between Churchill and Embarcadero and wondered about the pool of riders that would use this particular location over another location. Mr. Kamhi believed the Safe Routes team had gotten dot maps showing where students are coming from. He stated the Paly catchment area extends to Colorado, which might point to Seale making more sense for Paly High School students. DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 5 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 Mayor Burt encouraged obtaining those maps from PAUSD as Kellogg may not be the right alternative, rather than spending money and time on evaluating it. Council Member Cormack questioned the downsides of moving to 12 feet from 10. Mr. DeStefano stated there were not a lot of downsides. It is a slightly narrower lane. Some driveways may need to be widened. There may be additional impacts to utilities. There will be a slightly higher cost. There is a lot of feedback that 10 is not wide enough. Council Member Cormack was comfortable with this modification. Mr. Kamhi stated the discussion about the width would apply to Seale or Kellogg because they are similar dimensions. Chair Kou asked if trucks were taken into consideration when looking at the widths of the lanes. Mr. DeStefano stated vehicles tend to shy away from the barrier on one side and the curb on the other, so keeping it comfortable to drive on is important. Ripon Bhatia, Senior Engineer, stated this is going to be on the narrower side. Having no parking on both sides helps, but a 10-foot lane is a typical construction lane in residential neighborhoods. Mayor Burt stated another issue with having a barrier on either side is related to the proliferation of delivery vehicles that typically park in the street. He wanted to make sure that growing issue was considered. Nadia Naik, Community Organizer, stated one thing about Seale that is not the same as Kellogg is that at the corner of Seale and Alma there are properties that are not R1 properties. They are RM30, so if there was a property impact, those could be reconfigured differently. Seale tends to have a lot more parked cars on the street because of those RM30 properties. Chair Kou questioned the outreach to the community on the 2 streets about the parking. Mr. Bhatia stated that outreach for the merits of Kellogg versus Seale would be considered as part of the Bike and Pedestrian Transportation Plan update. Mr. DeStefano showed a plan view at Kellogg. The ped-bike ramps were previously based on 8% grades of the ramp with 5-foot landings every 35 DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 6 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 feet. Some of the stakeholders believed this was too steep. A 5% grade would increase the length, in this case by 80 feet. The drawbacks to the 5% grade were more excavation, increasing the footprint of the project, potential impacts to right-of-way, utilities, etc. Mayor Burt stated 8% is considerably better than the 12% at California Avenue. Council Member Cormack stated it is not just about bikes but also wheelchairs, walkers, etc. She asked what is standard in other places in California that are bicycle friendly. Mr. DeStefano stated where constraints are tight, 8% is fine, but if there is more space, 5% is preferable. There was discussion about the length of the ramp, which is about half the block. Council Member Cormack was comfortable with 8% and the landings. Mr. DeStefano stated this was just a decision on what to move forward with in the planning phase, not what would ultimately be constructed. Mr. Kamhi added that it was for the refinement of the conceptual alternatives, whether to see what a 5% grade and its impacts look like or to leave it at the originally designed 8%. Mayor Burt was not sure that 5% was necessary. Compared to 12% at California Avenue, 8% is reasonable, not exceptionally steep. He again questioned the work and expense of refining a Kellogg alternative rather than determining whether Kellogg is a viable location and then deciding whether to spend the funds. Mr. Kamhi stated this same refinement would be relevant to Seale and have similar impacts. There was discussion about similar impacts, including property impacts, at the ramps at Meadow and Charleston. Ms. Naik stated 5% is for little kids having to get themselves over the area. The Seale location would allow access to Peers Park, which would be a huge benefit for Old Palo Alto but means a lot more families, strollers, and little kids. It may not be what the Kellogg path would be used for. She felt this was a great example of how a small percent change in grade makes a big difference in the length. She stated the Commission will have to pull back and think about whether the idea is to make it as economical as possible or to think about the end users because there will be tradeoffs. DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 7 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 Chair Kou agreed that it was important to ensure these routes are easy and safe for children to access. She felt it was too early to decide on changing the slope. Mr. Kamhi added adults with bike trailers carrying kids should be a consideration. He noted this was a requested refinement and could be done now under the conceptual design or may continue to be considered while going through the process. Mayor Burt supported staying with 8% currently but not ruling out 5% and then looking at both if Kellogg emerges as a preferred alternative location. Council Member Cormack agreed that 5% should not be ruled out but might not be necessary currently. Mayor Burt asked where a 12-foot ramp would fit on the west side of the tracks perpendicular to the underpass, in addition to the current bike path behind Paly, and stated this ramp intruding additionally on the Caltrain corridor beyond the existing path was a big deal. Mr. DeStefano stated there was a comment from a stakeholder about reconfiguring the ramps west of the tracks between Churchill and Kellogg. The area of concern is where the Kellogg Avenue Tunnel daylights with a potential conflict between bicyclists coming off the ramp and those traveling in the opposite direction toward Embarcadero. There was a suggestion to reconfigure this layout by sliding the ramp over closer to the bleachers at the high school and having a unidirectional path on each side at grade to minimize the conflict. This is a safer configuration with the drawback that it will push everything farther west and impact the school's property. Council Member Cormack believed this made sense and that it was reasonable to ask the school district to help out with the space for it. Ms. Naik pointed out that the elementary and middle school children from the Southgate neighborhood have to use those ramps to cross the tracks to go to the east side to Walter Hayes and Green Middle School, whether it is at Kellogg or Seale, and that the age of riders needs to be considered regarding directional traffic. Mayor Burt stated that sheds light on the previous discussion on 8% versus 5%, with a group of school-age children that move that direction. The land on this end of the Paly field is not utilized today, whereas the other end of the field might be more problematic. Chair Kou asked how this would affect Palo Alto High School's right of way. DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 8 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 Mr. Kamhi stated it does not overlap the bleachers on the track completely but would push up against the bleachers or potentially require the bleachers be relocated or adjusted. Mr. DeStefano stated many stakeholders expressed concern about the 2-way ped-bike path on one side of the road at Meadow and Charleston. The westbound-traveling pedestrians and bicyclists on Meadow have to cross the street at Emerson and continue underneath Alma and the tracks to Second Street where they have to cross again to get onto the other side of the street. To make these maneuvers safer, looking into mitigation measures, such as flashing beacons or a HAWK (High-Intensity Activated Crosswalk) signal, is recommended. Council Member Cormack felt new alternatives that provide ped-bike on each side of the street should be studied. Mayor Burt stated there is not currently a high volume of bike travel along the east side of Alma but the wide parking strip lends itself to an off-road bike path in the future. He stated there is an exceptionally wide buffer between back fences and Alma in this area with very few curb cuts to San Antonio, so it is one of the few locations in the city to put an off-road path going forward. Ms. Naik stated these drawings were intended mostly to show property impacts and are not great for showing the way bikes are moving. She stated she has been asked why they look at property impacts to figure out the best way for cars to move but not for bicycle and pedestrian things. She questioned if this is the way to look at things. Mr. Bhatia stated these widths would be increased to 12 feet where feasible to help the continuity of the bike lanes in the future. Chair Kou appreciated all the mitigations and ways of getting bike-peds into a very narrow road. With the number of different ages and abilities to use these pathways, she wanted to make sure it was straightforward with no confusion in crossing. She felt there was potential confusion as well as traffic backups at the Emerson and Second Street crossings. Regarding flashing beacons, she felt it was very difficult to see the flashing of the one at Clemo and Arastradero. Mr. DeStefano stated there were many comments from different stakeholders related to the 90-degree turns on the ramps and how this impacts line of sight and maneuverability of bikes. The Kellogg Tunnel on the west side of the tracks near the high school allows for a 10-foot turning radius for bikes, very similar to the Homer Avenue Tunnel, with bikes DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 9 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 coming down parallel to the tracks and making a 90-degree right turn into the tunnel. Staff recommended a slight modification to flare out the ends of the tunnel to improve the line of sight. This would also allow for a slight increase of the turning radius to allow for better maneuverability of all types of bicycles, including cargo and tandem bikes or bikes with trailers. Mayor Burt appreciated the effort to improve line of sight and suggested that mirrors might be advantageous in these hazardous locations. Mr. DeStefano stated there were comments from a couple of stakeholders about creating a dead end at Kellogg at Alma to reduce the traffic on Kellogg to make it safer for bikes entering and exiting the end of the ramp. However, accommodation would need to be made for a U-turn movement at the west end of the street near Alma for an emergency vehicle or garbage truck. The radius needed is substantial and would require the acquisition of at least one property on each side of the street. Staff recommended keeping the configuration as is and not introducing a dead end. Chair Kou felt the recommendation made sense. Mr. Bhatia stated there were several requests to show the connectivity of nearby facilities, including libraries, JLS, Cubberley, Gunn High School, and major facilities within the city as part of the grade separation project. That is beyond the limits of the grade separation project, but staff recommended that be considered as part of the Bike and Pedestrian Transportation Plan. Whatever is proposed as part of that plan would be maintained throughout the grade separation project. Ms. Naik stated the Comprehensive Plan has a concept to do a formal bike- ped circulation study related to grade separations and asked if this is expected to be included as part of the new BPTP. Mr. Bhatia stated network-level connectivity and network-level bike and ped movements as traffic circulation will be part of the Bike and Pedestrian Transportation Plan, and from there, the elements could be implemented as part of different projects. There were several comments associated with how the construction would accommodate bike and pedestrians in different phases. The intent is to make sure there are provisions in the construction to accommodate bike and pedestrian crossing at least at one crossing between Meadow and Charleston in South Palo Alto. As part of City Council direction, staff has to study new bike-ped crossings in South Palo Alto as part of the BPTP update and understands this Committee also has interest in advancing those projects in advance of grade separation projects. DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 10 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 Mayor Burt believed the community remained largely focused on the outcomes after construction and that community understanding of the severity of construction impact needed to be elevated. It would help inform decisions to weigh the options that have the least construction impacts. Council Member Cormack asked when this will begin and how long it will take. Ozzy Acre, Planner, stated the RFP is out for consultants to submit proposals, due the middle of November. Interviews will be in early December, and the consultant will onboard early next year to start the project in early 2023. It was scoped for an 18- to 24-month process. Council Member Cormack stated deciding on how to make these decisions is important, ranking construction duration and impact versus cost or ease of travel. There needs to be a decision on whether this is being designed for cars and making it work for bicycles or so that every single mode gets equal improvements or reduces impacts. Ms. Naik stated that at the last meeting when Caltrain was present, they said construction methods should be considered as part of design. She wanted to revisit the idea of the jacked box and how that might fundamentally change the length of time this takes. This is the only alternative in which there is not an impact to 4 tracks. To do the viaduct, hybrid, or trench requires 2 more tracks. With the underpass, the train is not being moved. She stated the whole point is to make life better when it is over and this is the only alternative that does not cause worse traffic studies. The bike-ped interfacing with the cars is hard and will take a long time to work out, but this is one of the alternatives with the least impacts. Mr. Kamhi stated Caltrain staff would come present on jack boxing and construction techniques. Millette Litzinger, AECOM Consultant, discussed the Meadow and Charleston underpass alternatives to consider a bike path on each side of the roadway rather than on only one side. Paths on both sides of the roadway would eliminate the need to cross the street multiple times as well as the need for the flashing beacons. There are some turning movements that would not be possible at the intersection of Alma due to the elevated sidewalks. Staff requested direction from Rail Committee on whether a new alternative should be developed with this configuration. Council Member Cormack stated it was going to be necessary to separate people walking and people on wheeled things so there are not 4 sets of issues in one place. She stated this was an example of finding things that DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 11 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 need to be refined while working through things. She supported looking at an alternative that allowed people on bikes and walking to be on both sides of the street. Ms. Naik asked what turning movements would not be possible. Mr. DeStefano described that the right turn movement from Meadow onto Northbound or Southbound Alma would not be allowed. Ms. Naik stated the traffic movement was important there and served that entire neighborhood. That would limit significant turn movements at significant intersections. Mr. DeStefano stated it would not look the same from a traffic standpoint but it was possible to look into accommodating those movements, potentially with a roundabout similar to Charleston, but that would require additional property acquisitions. He added that this idea is more suitable at Charleston because a key element of the design at Meadow is to have connectivity with Alma. On Charleston, there is only one direct connection to Alma. Ms. Naik stated that is the most significant traffic movement and carries almost all the evening commute traffic. To study this alternative, it needs to be considered if it is going to significantly worsen traffic. Mr. DeStefano stated making a right on Charleston in this situation would require entering the roundabout and making a U-turn. It would probably require an additional lane. Ms. Litzinger stated that this is an opportunity to prioritize bike-peds as well as vehicles. Ms. Naik stated the entire design as it was originally proposed was wholly based on the commute movements and blocking that movement would fail traffic. She stated limiting turning movements at either Meadow or Charleston was a nonstarter. Mr. Kamhi stated the original concept had the bike-ped path on one side for the accommodation of the vehicular traffic. Mayor Burt stated there are 2 points of reference. One is the ideal bike and ped flow, bidirectional movements on each side of Charleston, and the other is the current unidirectional on each side of the road interrupted by a signal and a train crossing. He felt it would be helpful to compare how much better the original concept is than the current and how much less ideal than having DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 12 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 bidirectional on both sides. The most quantifiable metric is the time of travel trying to go each direction by bike and then qualitatively the level of convenience. He asked whether staff had looked at other dedicated crossings south of Charleston for bike and ped. Mr. Bhatia believed there was a Council direction to look at South Palo Alto, including Adobe, for the BPTP. Mayor Burt suggested coupling this issue with a long-term dedicated bike and ped crossing somewhere in the vicinity of Adobe. The people who live south of Charleston and east of Alma are struggling with this maneuver, and this should in the long-term plan when trying to open up the connectedness on the 2 sides of the tracks, particularly in South Palo Alto. Council Member Cormack appreciated the comments about traffic but felt this was worth spending time on. She suggested doing this at only one crossing rather than both. Mayor Burt stated the proposed 180-degree turn on the north side of Charleston is very similar to the one at Embarcadero westbound under the underpass. He stated that it is a viable approach and not very inconvenient. Ms. Naik pointed out, regarding figuring out the discomfort for the bikes, that in the hybrid and viaduct, there is essentially a wait every time at Alma for the light. Even though it removes the train situation, the light impact is significant and bike and ped interruption impedes road traffic, which is why those intersections still fail in future traffic studies. Chair Kou would like to see the bike and ped on both sides but recognized that East Meadow is not the same width as Charleston. She felt that with the money and work going into these intersections, the flow should improve. Ms. Litzinger stated there was consideration for a ped-bike undercrossing at Seale as was suggested by the stakeholders. Kellogg is closer to Churchill and Paly High School, but Seale is across from Peers Park, which offers more flexibility for access ramps on the west side. Council has already provided direction that the merits of this undercrossing should be studied, and that will be done as part of the BPTP. Mayor Burt stated that federal and state legislators, VTA, and Caltrain have noted the circumstance of unprecedented availability of funding for active transportation measures that will not be around forever. Waiting for the whole process before deciding whether to pursue a bike and ped crossing like this one and in the vicinity of Loma Verde could mean losing out on a critical opportunity. The issue is how to pursue preliminary designs before DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 13 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 the whole Bike and Ped Plan is designed and moved through Council approval. He stated there is a good chance that bike and ped crossings need to be built before shutting down vehicular ones for construction. He wanted to do what was needed to move forward more quickly on these bike and ped crossings. He questioned why the same detail on Kellogg was not available for Seale as XCAP had recommended Seale and he was at a loss to find the merits for Kellogg over Seale. He felt Seale should be able to be moved ahead of the Bike and Ped Master Plan since it is already in the existing one. Mr. Kamhi stated that it was not necessary to wait for the Bike and Ped Master Plan to complete in order to have information about whether Kellogg or Seale would be a better choice. A lot of the information shared today related to Kellogg was applicable to Seale also, with similar widths. There is more flexibility on the other side at Peers Park, and there are merits to Seale. Ms. Naik stated Seale is the only street that goes all the way from Alma past Newell. It is a major thoroughfare and one of the things identified in the previous bike plan as being upgraded to a higher class of bike boulevard. Mayor Burt added that Kellogg goes 3 blocks and runs into Embarcadero. Chair Kou stated Seale is something worth looking at, and if Seale can be studied ahead of time, she felt East Meadow and Charleston might warrant the same. Council Member Cormack stated that the bike improvements were never made on Loma Verde. The Council removed it from the plan, which indicates why this has to be done in conjunction with the plan. She understood that might mean missing out on federal funds, but they are not guaranteed. She stated this needs to be done correctly and have it integrated with the plan, even though it is difficult to wait. Mr. Kamhi stated the Seale-Kellogg discussion can be addressed early on in BPTP with community engagement happening at the very beginning. He stated the elevated level of federal funding will be available for another 5 years and did not anticipate missing out on opportunities to apply. He mentioned that for the first round of funding, 17 times the amount of funding requests were received than was available and only one project in California got awarded. It is worth the time applying but also not a guarantee. Ms. Naik stated the map is deceiving when looking at Seale versus Kellogg because it only looks at the distance from the intersection to Churchill. DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 14 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 Turning the image 90 degrees shows that Embarcadero runs at an angle and creates a triangle, so the dot maps would be helpful. Mayor Burt stated XCAP had recommended Seale and stated Loma Verde was not removed from the Bike and Ped Master Plan but lumped into the NVCAP process. Ms. Naik stated XCAP voted on a majority to close Churchill but said a crossing at Seale or Kellogg should be looked into. Those that voted in the minority, herself included, said if the plan was for a partial underpass, which is what the Council has since decided, Seale should definitely be looked at. There was some discussion on Loma Verde and its inclusion in NVCAP. Mayor Burt clarified that in addition to the unprecedented state and federal dollars for grade separations, he understood there were additional funds for active transportation crossings like this. VTA, Caltrain, and Senator Becker's staff all suggested aggressively pursuing those other sources when looking at segregated bike and ped crossings. While the federal infrastructure dollars are over a 5-year period, he believed the state ones were not necessarily on the same time frame. Ms. Litzinger stated staff recommended the standard 12-foot lanes be reduced to 11-foot lanes but the shoulders to remain 8 feet. The shoulder width provides spaces for bicyclists, disabled vehicles, drainage inlets, signs, and turning movements for emergency vehicles. Mr. Bhatia stated there were several comments from PABAC community as well as the community design engineers to narrow the footprint to help reduce the cost as well. Ms. Litzinger described stakeholder feedback about modifying the traffic lanes, for instance reducing the lanes for the Churchill partial underpass such that 2 northbound lanes from Alma Street and 2 eastbound lanes at Churchill would be left out. Staff recommended the lane configurations remain as proposed, consistent with traffic study recommendations. Mr. Bhatia stated the thought from the design engineers was that reducing the number of lanes would reduce the bridge span and thickness, but the elimination of the right turn lane could back up traffic on Churchill Avenue. Mayor Burt questioned the width of the shoulder on Churchill and whether the underpass needed to be so wide. There was discussion on whether it was possible to narrow the shoulder width. Mayor Burt suggested making an objective not to have the underpass wider than is necessary for cost and land-taking reasons and trying to minimize the shoulder and median. DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 15 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 Mr. Bhatia stated this will be looked at once more detailed design of the bridge and the structural loading is done. Mr. Kamhi stated that would be taken into the next phase of design for this project. He stated there was a comment from PAUSD to make certain their buses can make these turning movements safely. Mr. DeStefano stated it is also the left turn movement for a bus or fire truck. Ms. Naik suggested removing the center support, as in the Rengstorff Bridge with trusses along the top, to give clearance for buses to make turns. The right turn go all the time currently serves an important function because of the train but also because it is a 3-way light, which is a barely used movement and an anomaly in the traffic study. By leaving this right turn lane, there will still be people sneaking up on the right side to try to keep going right all the time. There is a safety question about allowing those right turn movements in a place with impeded sightline. Mayor Burt believed the Rengstorff was a design without a center support and a longer span than this would be, which has been preliminarily approved by Caltrain. Ms. Litzinger stated there was a lot back and forth to get Caltrain to agree to that, and it is not a rubber stamp everywhere. There was more discussion about this. Mr. Kamhi stated Caltrain is hoping to come to the next meeting to discuss a service agreement and look at the current alternatives. Chair Kou suggested taking public comment and carrying this over to the next meeting. Public Comments 1. Richard Swent (In Person), on behalf of PABAC Rail Grade Crossing Subcommittee, stated simplicity benefits safety. He believed the underpass designs were very complicated, making them difficult to design safely. 2. Rachael Croft (In Person), Safe Routes to School Representative for Escondido Elementary and resident of Southgate, emphasized the prioritization of student safety over the level of service of cars. Kids south of Oregon Expressway will not ride their bikes to Escondido because there is no safe way to get across Oregon, then get through the California Tunnel, and then come over to Escondido. Her opinion DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 16 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 was there should be safe bike crossings throughout Palo Alto. She realized there were cost concerns but felt that there should be frequent crossings, at Kellogg, Seale, and south of Charleston. Looking at the Meadow and Charleston crossings, she questioned putting bikes along with cars and wondered about separating them, crossing where there are no cars. She pointed out that it was important to get the crossings done before the construction is done for the cars so that pedestrians can maintain their biking habits while construction is ongoing. 3. Cedric Pitot de la Beaujardiere supported the idea to move the access ramps to the center of the path for the Kellogg underpass east of Paly to avoid crossing conflicts and felt there would be minimal impacts to the Paly property to accommodate this. He had advocated closing Kellogg to through traffic at Alma. Regarding the issue about access for emergency vehicles and garbage trucks, he suggested a soft closure to prevent private vehicles but allow emergency vehicles and garbage trucks to pass. There would be less vehicle traffic, so it would be safer for bicycles and pedestrians entering and exiting that ramp. He stated the ADA ramp maximum slope is about 8.3% with 5-foot landings required for every 30 inches of rise and questioned if the ramp lengths took this into account, possibly increasing the overall length of the needed ramp. He asked if the City had done outreach to the owners of the homes that would be encroached upon or destroyed by some of these proposals. He agreed that simpler is safer and felt it was unfortunate that the viaduct option was dropped. He stated the 2-lane roundabout at Charleston is dangerous to navigate and suggested lanes merge before and diverge after the roundabout. 4. Adrian Brandt agreed on eliminating the central post in Churchill by using the same type of bridge as Rengstorff. It would also have a thinner bridge thickness, reducing the amount of excavation depth required through Alma and Churchill. He agreed with Mr. Pitot de la Beaujardiere that it was mistake to eliminate the viaduct at Churchill, which would minimize construction impact, solve the problem of soil excavation, and eliminate a lot of utility relocation impacts. All the problems the Committee has been discussing would be eliminated by having a viaduct. 5. Penny Ellson stated that the BPTP RFP it is now available on the portal and recommended the Committee members look at that to see what is in there related to this. She preferred a 5% grade for very young children with small wheels and little legs still learning how to use their brakes. She was concerned about the hybrid plan with expressway DRAFT SUMMARY MINUTES Page 17 of 17 Rail Committee Meeting Summary Minutes: 10/19/2022 traffic and Charleston-Meadow traffic going downhill toward the intersection. Elementary school children use those intersections, and that downhill is very difficult, even with a 5% grade. 6. Tony Carrasco stressed that pedestrians and bicycles have very different geometries. While they are spoken about as bike-ped together, he felt they needed to be separated. For instance, the length of a ramp is more intense for a pedestrian than for someone on a bike. These configurations force pedestrians to walk extended distances. He agreed with Mr. Pitot de la Beaujardiere and Mr. Brandt that it does not make sense to eliminate the viaduct. The big issue with the viaduct was that residents could not visualize how landscaping will eliminate most of the visual problems in a shorter time than it will take to construct the other alternatives. Being able to do it in 6 months versus 6 years is enormous in a construction project. Next Steps and Future Agendas Next meeting will be November 18, 2022, at 1:00 p.m. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 4:08 p.m.