REPORT TO BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Recommend to City Council the Selection of the Mary Avenue Underpass with Jughandle Option and the Sunnyvale Avenue Underpass Tunnel Option to be Defined as the Proposed Projects for the Grade Separation of Crossings of the Caltrain Railroad Tracks for the Environmental Review
Report
REPORT IN BRIEF
Sunnyvale currently has two at-grade railroad crossings, one each at Mary Avenue and Sunnyvale Avenue. These at-grade crossings create many concerns for the community including safety, traffic congestion and noise. Caltrain Electrification and California High Speed Rail projects will increase the frequency and volume of trains in the future, which will increase the concerns. By separating the local roadways from the railroads through a grade separation, these concerns will be greatly alleviated, especially safety. The City has been performing a Feasibility Study to determine the preferred grade separation options for each crossing location, which began in 2017. The Study is nearly complete and City Council will be selecting preferred options for both crossing locations on August 30, 2022.
The Study narrowed down the various grade separation options to two at Mary Avenue and two at Sunnyvale Avenue. The study evaluated various criteria including:
* Safety
* Noise
* Vehicular circulation
* Bicycle and pedestrian circulation
* Potential private property impacts
* Construction impacts
* Construction cost estimates
At Mary Avenue, the two options currently under consideration are Mary Avenue Underpass and Mary Avenue Underpass with Jughandle:
1. Mary Avenue Underpass (Attachment 3)
* Mary Avenue goes underneath the Caltrain tracks.
* Evelyn Avenue is lowered to maintain its intersection with Mary Avenue.
* Caltrain tracks stay at the existing elevation.
2. Mary Avenue Underpass with Jughandle (Attachment 4)
* Mary Avenue goes underneath the Caltrain tracks.
* A "jughandle" road segment is built to connect M...
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