Dumbarton Traffic To Get Relief Down Road

MENLO PARK, CA -- Traffic congestion between the Peninsula and East Bay, be gone.

With a slew of partners seated under its belt including Facebook, the Dumbarton Transportation Corridor Study is entering an important year in the process of relieving the stress of commuting from one side of the San Francisco Bay to the other.

The project led by the San Mateo County Transit District, aka SamTrans, seeks to remove barriers and check the feasibility of options including finances behind getting motorists from the bedroom communities of the East Bay such as Fremont, Newark and Union City to the job centers of Menlo Park, Redwood City and East Palo Alto.

The options that may encompass $2.58 billion to build and $90 million to maintain are far and wide. They include accommodating bicycles and pedestrians using a right-of-way up to the old, defunct rail bridge that SamTrans bought and refurbishing it. The bridge built in 1910 and runs adjacent with the current Dumbarton Bridge that holds the highly-congested Highway 84 may see improvements. Or, special bus routes between Union City and Menlo Park have been mentioned.

Either way, those who study Bay Area transit know something has to be done.

By 2040, the population and employment is anticipated to explode by another 27 percent. This means 290,000 more residents and 190,000 more jobs. Is it any wonder why some large tech firms hire their own private shuttle services?

The congested corridor has been studied since 1990. Its last update was published in 2012. Project planning on the latest rendition started in 2018, with this year being the time to conduct community outreach and environmental analysis for such a huge venture as well as settle the finances and agreements between federal, state and local government agencies.

Construction is estimated to start on the selected option by 2022, with completion anticipated by 2030. So government agencies and companies with an eye on growth are in it for the long haul.

Companies like Facebook in Menlo Park have a lot at stake. It's growing with already tens of thousands of employees coming from all over the bay. Recruiting more may seem like an ominous task when considering having to sit motionless in traffic across the highway bridge. Moreover, the bridge became a wind hazard during the severe winter storms.

Last August, SamTrans entered into an Exclusive Negotiating Agreement ("ENA") with Cross Bay Transit Partners LLC - a joint venture between Facebook and the Plenary Group, a long-term infrastructure investor and developer based in Australia. Such agreements are commonly used by public agencies to jointly develop real property with a private partner.

"We're happy to have Cross Bay Transit as partners and look forward to making improvements on the Dumbarton corridor," SamTrans spokesman Dan Lieberman said.

The partners are executing an 18-month agreement, during which all parties will evaluate the technical and financial feasibility of a transit project in the corridor and refine the project design. This means establishing connection points with other transit facilities, selecting technologies to link them and setting geographic guidelines as defined in the 2017 Dumbarton Transportation Corridor Study.

The community outreach program will be launched prior to the launch of the CEQA/NEPA process that launches environmental reviews of the concepts. At least one advisory committee and community meetings will be set up at locations that offer convenient access throughout the project area.

The study has already identified affected communities as follows: Redwood City, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, Palo Alto, Atherton, Mountain View, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Union City, Newark, Fremont, San Ramon, Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore.

Four meetings were conducted from Feb. 23 to March 2, with more to be planned throughout the year.

A preliminary project schedule (PDF) summarizes the steps involved.