REPORT TO BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMISSION
SUBJECT
Title
Recommend to the City Council the Selection of a Preferred Alignment for the Bernardo Avenue Undercrossing Project
Report
BACKGROUND
The Bernardo Avenue Undercrossing Project proposes to construct a pedestrian and bicycle tunnel to connect north and south Bernardo Avenue beneath the Caltrain railroad tracks and Central Expressway, at the location shown in Attachment 2 to this report. There is currently no existing connection between the north and south segments of Bernardo Avenue. The project was identified in the Active Transportation Plan as a High Priority crossing improvement in both the Bicycle Plan and Pedestrian Plan.
In 2016, staff applied for a One Bay Area Grant, Cycle 2 (OBAG2) grant. In 2017, the project received an award of $500,000 from OBAG2 for partial funding of the final design phase of the project (Attachment 3). On July 11, 2017, City Council accepted the grant (RTC No. 17-0573).
In 2017, City Council awarded a contract to WMH Corporation to provide preliminary design and environmental clearance (RTC No. 17-0622). In 2018, the City entered a cost-sharing agreement with the City of Mountain View for the preliminary design and environmental clearance (RTC No. 17-1203). This agreement was authorized by Mountain View City Council on December 12, 2017.
In early 2020, City of Sunnyvale and Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) staff jointly submitted a grant application for the project's final design phase to the 2016 Measure B Bicycle and Pedestrian Program - Capital Project 10-Year Priority List, fiscal year 2020/21 funding cycle. In mid-2020, VTA awarded the project $2,253,785 for final design with an additional $746,215 available to be requested in a future funding cycle, for a total of $3,000,000. (See Attachment 4 for the award letter.) An additional $15,000,000 was requested for partial construction costs but was not awarded.
On February 6, 2020, Caltrain/...
Click here for full text