At the meeting, participants will hear an overview of the process that led to the list of projects, with a focus on the proposed conceptual designs of the first six.  The goal of the meeting will be for meeting participants to let the City know their thoughts on the these designs, before they move forward to the final pre-construction stage.

To help prepare participants for the meeting, the final project list with links to fact sheets and location maps is available. All project fact sheets include a brief project description, cost estimate, photograph, location map, and copy of the Settlement Agreement language with which selected projects must comply.  Where appropriate, fact sheets contain a second page, which is a conceptual drawing providing an example of how the project could be implemented.

The first six fact sheets have been updated and will be the focus of the March 26 meeting; the remaining fact sheets have not changed since the list was finalized in 2011.  Therefore, the remaining drawings are meant to communicate the intent of each project, but in cases where multiple design solutions are available, a community process similar to the one planned for March 26 will take place before a final design is developed and implemented.

For carpool information from Rockridge BART to the meeting, email info@rockridge.org.

If you have questions about the process of finalizing the designs of the first six projects or the other projects on the City’s final project list, please contact the City’s consultant, Victoria Eisen at victoria(at)eisenletunic.com or 510-525-0220.

The March 26, 2012 meeting comment period extends until April 6, 2012 at 5pm. Submit comments to Si Lau via email: slau@oaklandnet.com, phone:510-238-6105; fax: 238-7415.

Letters may be mailed to: Si Lau, Transportation Engineer, Transportation Services Division, City of Oakland Public Works Agency, 250 Frank Ogawa Plaza, Suite 4344, Oakland, CA 94612.  So the City knows what neighborhood you live in, please provide either your address or nearby intersection in your comments.

We are writing to thank everyone in the Upper Broadway/Caldecott Lane/Tunnel Road, Rockridge and Temescal neighborhoods for your participation in the development of the final list of projects to be funded through the City of Oakland’s $8 million Settlement Agreement with Caltrans over the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore EIR. The final list of projects is attached.

Settlement Agreement Language

These projects are intended to ameliorate the operational impacts to the North Oakland Hills, Rockridge and Temescal districts of adding the fourth bore to the Caldecott Tunnel.  According to the Settlement Agreement, projects must “have as their primary purpose the improvement of pedestrian, bicycle, transit and local street improvements, noise barriers, including projects that support the use of transit (and the reduction of single-occupant motorized vehicles, such as transit signal coordination and amenities), to the greater community in the Highway 24 corridor between I-580 and the Caldecott Tunnel.” The project list meets the intent of the Settlement Agreement.

Public Input in Creating the List

Through a series of three three-hour-long walking tours and over 250 comments communicated at and subsequent to a public meeting in November 2010, the project list has been finalized.  More details on the intent and conceptual design of these projects are available at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/16069359/Oakland-Caldecott/Caldecott%20project%20fact%20sheets_03-14-11.pdf The project cost estimates include budget for public involvement in the determination of the ultimate design of each project.

Next Steps

An agreement with the Alameda County Transportation Commission and Caltrans must be signed regarding funding and the list of projects. While this process is underway, each project will be evaluated to determine if more design work is needed prior to further community meetings (or vice-versa). We intend to begin by focusing on the first six projects on the list. Once the design of those projects and pre-construction work is underway, we will ask you to participate in the development of projects farther down the list, and so on.  You will be directly notified of opportunities to participate in the design of these projects.  In addition, the Fourth Bore Coalition will continue to track this process at www.fourthbore.org.

Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thank you.

Iris Starr, AICP
Division Manager of
Infrastructure Plans and Programming

In July 2010, Berkeley’s Transportation Commission recommended (click here) a prioritized project list to Berkeley’s City Council. The Commission’s recommendation and associated staff report are expected to be on Berkeley City Council’s agenda in January 2011. Council agenda packets are available here.

See the full report for locations and measurements.

Who: Caltrans & Local Community Groups and Residents near the West Portal of the Caldecott Tunnel
What: Community Meeting to Discuss Construction Issues of Interests between the Parties
When: Thursday, March 25, 7PM – 9PM
Where: Kaiser Elementary School, 25 South Hill Court, Oakland

AGENDA

7:00-7:20 PM Open house

7:20-8:30 PM Short updates by Caltrans and Tutor-Saliba (prime contractor) on

Temporary soundwall

Parking

Traffic Management

Noise Management

Air Quality / Dust Management

Temporary landscaping (construction phase)

Public Outreach protocols

8:30-9:00 PM Q&A

Information displays will be set up for the open house period, during which Caltrans representatives will be available to answer questions of a more technical nature. For further information, feel free to contact

From 7:00 pm – 7:20, there will be an open house where residents can speak with Caltrans representatives about the project. Although a question and answer period is scheduled for later in the meeting, the open house will allow residents to ask questions of a more technical nature, ones that might not be as relavant to the group as a whole. Short Updates by Caltrans Personell and the Contractor, Tutor-Saliba, on issues of interest to the west portal residents: Soundwalls, parking, traffic, air, noise, dust, public outreach protocols, landscaping.
Question and Answer Period.

1) $2 million for improvements to State Route (SR) 13, the Ashby Avenue and Tunnel Road corridor, including improvements for some intersections and for pedestrian and bicycle travel.

2)  $250,000 for a study of the entire SR 24 corridor, from I-580 to I-680. It will consider potential transportation improvements, including High Occupancy Vehicle lanes (HOV) and/or toll lanes, BART and other transit service improvements, current and projected noise levels at the Rockridge BART station platform, and reducing other major impacts of the highway including traffic, noise, and air pollution.

3)  fund a barrier along the highway’s edge above FROG Park to protect the park from falling debris and consider expanding the park by including unused Caltrans right-of-way land.

4) minimize night-time lighting impacts by requiring contractors to employ light-shielding measures and respond to complaints within 24 hours

5) monitor 5 sound level meters throughout the entire construction period, post these measurements, and provide a 24-hr. contact phone number and email address for resident complaints

6) contractor will not exceed the baseline Leq noise level by 3dB or the nighttime hourly Lmax at all. Violations will cause immediate shutdown of the equipment.

7) local residents will be notified in advance of blasting, which will not occur from 7pm-7am

8. commit to using low-sulfur diesel for off-road construction equipment.

9) Caltrans also committed to keeping dirt-hauling trucks off local streets and to work with the community to minimize impacts from dirt stockpiling at or near the site.

10)  provide an additional $100,000 for FROG Park or bicycle transit improvements or to provide additional support for the SR 24 corridor study.

Last, but certainly not least, were several commitments made, not by Caltrans, but by Senator Steinberg and the Democratic Legislative leadership, that promised up to $2 million for noise and air quality mitigation efforts at Chabot Elementary and Claremont Middle schools.

Steinberg’s office also promised to work with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC) and BART to identify State funds for bicycle transit improvements along the corridor.

An unnamed legislator also apparently agreed to carry a bill that could lead to Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) land along Claremont Avenue being converted to public recreational use once the current building reaches the end of its useful life.

With money to support a settlement reached in January between Caltrans and the Fourth Bore Coalition, state Sen. Loni   Hancock, D-Berkeley, and Assemblywoman Nancy Skinner, D-Berkeley, presented a check for $3 million to Oakland Unified School District officials on April 17 on the baseball field at Chabot Elementary  School .

Specialized air-filtration systems and trees will be installed  at Chabot Elementary School and Claremont Middle School.   These measures will help mitigate  air quality  and noise impacts  from increased traffic caused by the fourth Caldecott Tunnel bore, scheduled to begin construction this summer.

Of the funds, $2 million comes from the state Air Resources Board for upgrades to the ventilation systems of all buildings and classrooms at both schools. An additional $1 million grant was provided by CalFire’s Urban Forestry Program for landscape barriers to mitigate noise expected from increased traffic  expected to occur after construction of the new tunnel bore.

Governor Schwarzenegger’s demand that the Caldecott Improvement Project – also known as the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore Project – move forward, plus the intervention of the legislature’s Democratic leadership, pressured the Caldecott Tunnel Fourth Bore Coalition (FBC), which includes RCPC among its members, into accepting a settlement of its lawsuit over adding the fourth bore to the tunnel.

Although less than what the FBC hoped for from its suit, the settlement terms are an improvement over what Caltrans had offered during extended discussions last year.

As reported in January’s Rockridge News, the Governor, in the name of providing an “economic stimulus,” proposed a retroactive exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for the Caldecott project and 10 other highway projects. He stated flatly that he would not sign an amended budget unless it included those exemptions, effectively holding the State budget hostage.

The Democratic legislative leadership, and particularly Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, strongly opposed this move. Nevertheless, the FBC was told candidly that, given solid Republican support and other legislators’ fear of being blamed for the State’s insolvency, the CEQA exemption was likely to pass. The result would have been to derail and negate the pending lawsuit (the judge had been expected to issue a decision within weeks) and leave the FBC with nothing to show for its years of efforts.

At the suggestion of Senator Steinberg and California League of Conservation Voters President Tom Adams, FBC leaders and legal counsel met with Caltrans to hammer out a settlement.

The most significant result of the settlement was Caltrans’ commitment to spend $2 million for improvements to State Route (SR) 13, the Ashby Avenue and Tunnel Road corridor, including improvements for some intersections and for pedestrian and bicycle travel. These will help offset traffic increases expected with the new fourth bore.

Caltrans also committed to spend up to $250,000 for a study of the entire SR 24 corridor, from I-580 to I-680. It will consider potential transportation improvements, including High Occupancy Vehicle lanes (HOV) and/or toll lanes, BART and other transit service improvements, current and projected noise levels at the Rockridge BART station platform, and reducing other major impacts of the highway including traffic, noise, and air pollution. However, it provides no funds to implement the study’s results.

Fourth Bore Coalition negotiators were unable to prod Caltrans to do much more to alleviate major construction impacts on those living close to the project. Oakland, in its settlement earlier of a threatened suit, got Caltrans to restrict hauling operations to daylight hours and to limit nighttime noise increases; Caltrans adamantly refused to go any further. However, the highway construction agency did commit, reluctantly, to using low-sulfur diesel for off-road construction equipment. This will help reduce the project’s effect on local air quality. Caltrans also committed to keeping dirt-hauling trucks off local streets and to work with the community to minimize impacts from dirt stockpiling at or near the site.

Caltrans also agreed to fund a barrier along the highway’s edge above FROG Park to protect the park from falling debris, and agreed to consider expanding the park by including unused Caltrans right-of-way land. These agreements will not mitigate the expected noise impacts on the park, but provide some protection and compensation. The agency also committed an additional $100,000 for FROG Park or bicycle transit improvements or to provide additional support for the SR 24 corridor study.

Last, but certainly not least, were several commitments made, not by Caltrans, but by Senator Steinberg and the Democratic Legislative leadership, that promised up to $2 million for noise and air quality mitigation efforts at Chabot Elementary and Claremont Middle schools, as long as the school district provided adequate documentation justifying the expenditures.

Steinberg’s office also promised to work with the East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC) and BART to identify State funds for bicycle transit improvements along the corridor. An unnamed legislator also apparently agreed to carry a bill that could lead to Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) land along Claremont Avenue being converted to public recreational use once the current building reaches the end of its useful life.

Neither the settlement itself nor the process was what the FBC had hoped for. Still, all in all, especially given the unpleasant circumstances, the settlement provides a small but significant offset to the many impacts the Caldecott project will have on the Oakland/Berkeley community. Perhaps the most unfortunate part of the outcome is what it says about our dysfunctional California political system, and how it was so willing to sacrifice the environment and our community to satisfy special interests.

CITY OF OAKLAND – LIST OF ENHANCEMENT PROJECTS

PHASE I PROJECT LIST:TOTAL : $8,200,000

Traffic Signal Improvements: $2,650,000 (2008 estimated cost)

Improve intersections in the project and surrounding on and off-ramp areas by installing new signals, making intersection geometric improvements, upgrading existing signals, to improve pedestrian, bicycle and vehicular access and safety. Locations include:

• Tunnel Road/Hiller Drive/Highway 13 intersection
• Caldecott Lane/Kay Overcrossing: New signal
• Caldecott Lane/SR24 ramps: New signal
• Broadway/Lawton: New signal
• Broadway/Keith, College/Keith. College/Miles, Telegraph on/offramps: Signal upgrades

Sidewalk Improvements $3,650,000 (2008 estimated cost)

• Tunnel Road: Install sidewalks along Tunnel Road between Berkeley border and the Tunnel Road/Hiller Drive/Highway 13 intersection as specified by the Oakland Pedestrian Master Plan.
• Broadway: Install sidewalks along Broadway between Golden Gate Ave. and Kay Overcrossing as specified by the Oakland Pedestrian Master Plan.
• Caldecott Lane: Install sidewalks-from Parkwoods condominiums to Tunnel Road.

Bicycle Improvements $500,000 (2008 estimated cost)

• Tunnel Road: Complete the bikeway between the Berkeley border and the Tunnel Road/Hiller Drive/Highway 13 intersection as specified in the Oakland Bicycle Master Plan
• Broadway/Overcrossing/Caldecott Lane: Complete bikeway between Broadway at: Golden Gate Ave and Caldecott Lane at Tunnel Road as specified in the Oakland Bicycle Master Plan
• Bike route signage improvements to BART stations
• High Capacity Bicycle Parking at Rockridge and MacArthur BART stations
• Replacement of on-street parking (i.e. bike racks) in commercial areas,  i.e. College Avenue, due to citywide parking meter removal program

LandvaleBridge: $200,000 (2008 estimated cost)

Complete an alternatives analysis of possible pedestrian and bicycle connections from the Tunnel Road/Hiller Dr/Highway 13 intersection to the Lake Temescal Path (at Broadway). The analysis should include cost estimates for the alternatives and identify a recommended alternative, as well as potential state, regional and local funding options;

Soundwalls: $1,200,000 (2008 estimated cost)

At priority locations, to be identified.

PHASE II PROJECT LIST:TOTAL : $4,000,000

On and off ramp improvements: $500,000 (2008 estimated cost): Improve access and safety for pedestrians, bicyclists & vehicles at all on/offramps to Highway 24, including full bike/ped actuation, ped countdown heads, signage and striping improvements, ped curb ramps, etc..

Bicycle safety and access improvements at the MacArthur and Rockridge BART Stations, including: $500,000 (2008 estimated cost): BART transit village on 40th and 41st St. Emeryville border to Piedmont Ave. and W. MacArthur Blvd, Hwy. 24 to Broadway, including median narrowing on 40th St. to accomodate bicycle lanes.

Traffic Signal Transit Coordination and Synchronization Program: $2,000,000 (2008 estimated cost): Along major (transit) corridors, interconnect and optimize for adaptive traffic signals system along Broadway, College and Claremont Ave. Include signal upgrades and transit priority system, pedestrian access improvements, bus and/or ped bulbs, shelters, and other amenities. Collaborate with AC Transit on Line 51 Task Force improvements.