REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Adopt Resolutions Authorizing the City Manager or His Designee to Execute Agreements for Purchase of Certain Real Estate Rights and Acceptance of Easements, and Adopt a Resolution Summarily Vacating Existing Aerial Easements, all in Relation to the Fair Oaks Avenue Overhead Bridge Rehabilitation Project
Report
BACKGROUND
The Fair Oaks Avenue Overhead Bridge (bridge) is located on Fair Oaks Avenue between Kifer Road and Evelyn Avenue. The bridge crosses over Hendy Avenue, railroad tracks owned by the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (Caltrain), and is adjacent to an apartment community. The bridge was constructed in 1967 and was seismically retrofitted in both 1981 and 1993. Caltrans inspects the bridge, and evaluates its structural integrity and functionality every two years. As of April 2016, Caltrans records indicate that the bridge has significant deck cracking and spalling; as well as inadequate sidewalk width, barriers and approach railings. The bridge is considered safe for driving but needs a substantial rehabilitation.
The Fair Oaks Avenue Overhead Bridge Rehabilitation Project (Project) will rehabilitate the bridge to address several identified structural deficiencies and will expand bicycle and pedestrian amenities. The rehabilitated bridge will maintain its current automobile capacity of two travel lanes in each direction, however, the Project will widen existing bicycle lanes from five feet to six feet and will add a sidewalk on the east side of the bridge. Currently, the bridge does not have a sidewalk and pedestrians use the pedestrian overcrossing (POC) structure over the Caltrain tracks adjacent to the bridge. The Project proposes to remove the POC, which itself has several inadequacies. The ramps on the POC are too steep to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the southern entry point to the POC can be challenging for pedestrians to locate. The obscurity of the POC and its access point...
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