Public hearings have taken place and the City Council selected project options. For the selected options, see Details. For the Council meeting information, see Documents.

The project will move forward as two projects. One is the Mary Avenue crossing location. The other is the Sunnyvale Avenue crossing location. Both locations will move into the environmental clearance phase.

Next Steps

For the Mary Avenue Crossing Location:

• Ongoing - Coordinating with Caltrain on Service Agreement
• Ongoing - Securing funding for environmental clearance phase
• Summer 2024 - Finalize Caltrain Service Agreement
• Fall 2024 - Begin environmental clearance phase

The schedule for the Sunnyvale Avenue crossing location project is to be determined.

Caltrain Railroad Crossing Locations

The Feasibility Study was completed in 2022. This study analyzed various options to separate the roadways from Caltrain tracks. The City Council selected the preferred option for each crossing location, listed below.

1. Mary Avenue Underpass Tunnel with Jughandle
2. Sunnyvale Avenue Underpass Tunnel for Bicycle and Pedestrian Undercrossing

These options will move forward as separate projects. Mary Avenue is moving into the environmental study phase. The Sunnyvale Avenue environmental study phase will follow. We are looking at funding opportunities for both projects. Once funding is in place, the final design and construction phase will begin.

The following materials have been presented on this project:

Sunnyvale Grade Separation Feasibility Study, December 2022

City Council Public Hearing, Sept. 27, 2022 - Sunnyvale Avenue selection of preferred project

City Council Public Hearing, Aug. 30, 2022 - Mary Avenue selection of preferred project

Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission for Mary Avenue Crossing, Aug. 1, 2022 - Presentation material for Mary Avenue crossing location

Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission for Sunnyvale Avenue Crossing, July 21, 2022 - Presentation material for Sunnyvale Avenue crossing location

Community Meeting for Mary Avenue Grade Separation, June 8, 2022 - Meeting recording, jughandle simulation video, and presentation material

Community Meeting for Sunnyvale Avenue Grade Separation, June 9, 2022 - Meeting recording and presentation material

City Council Study Session, April 5, 2022 - Caltrain Grade Separation Feasibility Study status update

Report to Council 17-1161, Jan. 23, 2018 - City Council Consideration of Rail Depression Alternative for Caltrain Grade Separation, Approval of Budget Modification, and Authorization of City Manager to Execute Contract Amendment with BKF Engineers, January 23, 2018

Joint City Council-BPAC Study Session 17-0578, Oct. 17, 2017 - Presentation of Caltrain Grade Separation Feasibility Study

Community Meeting for Sunnyvale Avenue Grade Separation, Aug. 24, 2017 - Presentation Material for Sunnyvale Avenue Community Kickoff Meeting

BPAC Working Session 17-0811 Presentation, Aug. 17, 2017 - Presentation Material of Railroad Crossing Community Meeting

Community Meeting for Mary Avenue Grade Separation, Aug. 10, 2017 - Presentation Material for Mary Avenue Community Kickoff Meeting

Report to Council 17-0055, Jan. 31, 2017 - City Council Approval of Contract with BKF Engineers to Prepare the Caltrain Grade Separation Feasibility Study

The Caltrain Grade Separation project is based on the following policies:

City of Sunnyvale Land Use and Transportation Element (LUTE) 2017
(Policies 24, 36, 40, 42 and 46 on safety, Policies 32 and 42 on transportation system efficiency, and Policy 42 on promoting regional commuter rail)

The Caltrain railroad corridor provides regional rail transit services and relieves roadway traffic. Motorists and bicyclists crossing railroad tracks face high traffic delays in peak periods. This traffic delay is due to trains crossing at the same level as the street levels ("at-grade").

The at-grade train crossings force roadway traffic to wait due to:

• Downtime of railroad gates
• Frequency of train crossings resulting in more stops

There are three projects planned along the corridor (list below). These plans will allow faster and more frequent trains along this rail corridor. For motorists, bicycles, pedestrians and high-occupancy vehicles (buses and shuttles) this means increased congestion and delays.

• Caltrain Modernization Plan - includes plans to electrify Caltrain rail lines
• Caltrain Business Plan - includes plans to increase number of trains per day
• California High Speed Rail Plan - includes plans to add four trains per hour per direction

Caltrain is developing a Corridor Crossings Strategy. The goal is to develop a corridor-wide approach to grade separation and rail crossing closure projects. This will help coordinate the various projects along the Caltrain corridor. It will also help to raise the importance of the projects when shared regions pursue funding.

To increase safety and reduce delays the City is proposing grade separated crossings. Separating adjacent roadways from the railroad tracks provides many benefits such as:

• Reducing or eliminating potential collisions
• Removing the need to stop and wait for the rail gates
• Reducing delays and congestion
• Eliminating train horns and crossing bells (reducing noise)

In 2017, the City of Sunnyvale began a grade separation feasibility study (RTC 17-0055). The City performed public outreach in summer 2017. In October 2017 the City Council and BPAC held a joint meeting for an update and provided feedback. The project team used the feedback to narrow down the design to four options. Some community feedback included interest in a full rail tunnel option.

In January 2018, the project team presented these options to the City Council (RTC 17-1161). City Council considered adding a full rail tunnel option to the study. This option was found not feasible due to neighborhood impacts, construction operations and lack of funding. The City Council directed staff to study the original four design options (see Details).

In 2022, the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) created an Ad Hoc Committee to discuss and keep updated on the grade separation projects countywide. The Committee is comprised of VTA Board representatives from the three cities identified for funding under 2016 Measure B for Caltrain Grade Separations. The purpose of the Committee is to review and help guide VTA staff and City staff with the delivery of the 2016 Measure B Grade Separation Program. These meetings currently occur approximately quarterly and can be found on the VTA's Meeting Calendar.