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After the cost to build an underground pedestrian and bike crossing under Caltrain tracks near Middle Avenue ballooned, Menlo Park officials are struggling to figure out how to pay for it, or whether to continue the project at all.
The project’s preliminary cost estimate of $23-35 million has jumped to more than $60 million. The city has spent $6.5 million so far, including $4 million to acquire land in the right-of-way near the proposed crossing.
Proposals for an underground crossing date back over 10 years to Menlo Park’s El Camino Real and Downtown Specific Plan but the city didn’t make significant progress until 2019. Almost $22.8 million in project funding has been secured from San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, Stanford University (as part of the Middle Plaza development agreement), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and the federal government. But much of that funding has an expiration date and the city is facing an estimated shortfall between $38 million and $43 million.
At the Jan. 27 Menlo Park City Council meeting, council members were presented with three options: prepare plans to get the project “shovel ready” and work on securing grant funding, proceed with phasing the project while additional funding is sought, or cancel it altogether.
Following the recommendation of Caltrain and city staffers, the council decided to prepare the plans while seeking additional funding. City staff said that once the plans are around 90% complete and the project is ready to break ground, it could better compete for state and federal grants. Currently, the plans are around 35% complete, city staff said.
Given current federal funding policies and state budget shortfalls, some council members said they are not optimistic about the prospect of additional funds.
“I’m worried about the feeling that the money will be there and it will be freed up because I don’t feel like that’s the environment that we’re in over the next few years,” Councilmember Jeff Schmidt said.
But there aren’t many other options. If the city chose to phase the project, it would likely mean building a tunnel and leaving it closed, potentially for years, before the project can be completed.
Mayor Betsy Nash said she sees the project as vital, given major new developments projects on the horizon. She singled out Parkline, an approved mixed-use project at SRI International’s headquarters across from Burgess Park.
“Parkline specifically has a lot of their development built around biking in mind and this project specifically,” Nash said. “I think that this will be heavily used and really worthwhile for all ages if we can get the funding and get it through.
The city council directed staff to come back with a contract amendment to spend an estimated $7.4 million to get the project to the 90% phase. Unfortunately for the city, many of the funding sources it has now – from Stanford, federal government and MTC — only cover construction costs and they cannot be used to finish planning work.
The contract amendment is expected to come before the council within a few weeks.
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