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.

Letters may be mailed to: Iris Starr, Division Manager, Infrastructure Plans and Programming, 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.

The draft project list with links to fact sheets and location maps including links to project fact sheets are 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. These drawings are meant to communicate the intent of each project, but in all cases where multiple design solutions are available, a community process will take place before a final design in developed and implemented.

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

At the meeting, participants will be introduced to the process that led to this list of projects and will hear a presentation on the projects themselves.  The goal of the meeting will be for the City to hear the perspectives on these projects of residents and merchants in the North Oakland Hills, Rockridge and Temescal neighborhoods, which will be used to generate a final project list.

To help prepare participants for the meeting, the draft project list with links to fact sheets and location maps including links to project fact sheets are 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.  These drawings are meant to communicate the intent of each project, but in all cases where multiple design solutions are available, a community process will take place before a final design in developed and implemented.

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

The Nov. 8 public meeting comment period extends until November 22 at 5pm. Submit comments to Iris Starr via email: istarr@oaklandnet.com, phone:510-238-1725; fax: 238-7415.

Letters may be mailed to: Iris Starr, Division Manager, Infrastructure Plans and Programming, 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.

From: “Brunner, Jane” <JBrunner@oaklandnet.com>

Subject: You are Invited to a Meeting About the Caldecott Tunnel 4th Bore Proposed Mitigation Projects

Dear Neighbors:

Please see the invitation below (and attached) from City staff for a meeting on November 8^th to discuss a proposed list of transportation projects that are planned in the vicinity of the Caldecott Tunnel Project to mitigate the impacts of the new 4^th Bore and to enhance pedestrian and bicycle facilities in the area.

The City of Oakland received an $8 million set-aside when we negotiated with Caltrans on the construction of the Caldecott Tunnel 4^th Bore. The money is specified for transportation improvements and enhancements in the vicinity of the tunnel. This meeting will be a chance for you to review and comment on how the City plans to spend the $8 million.

I look forward to seeing you at this important meeting. Please see below for more details.

Yours,

Jane Brunner

Oakland City Council President

——

October 18, 2010

RE:  CALDECOTT FOURTH BORE SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT-FUNDED PROJECTS

Dear Caldecott Tunnel Stakeholders,

As you know, the drilling of the “Fourth Bore” of the Caldecott Tunnel is underway. Prior to the start of this project, the City of Oakland reached a settlement with Caltrans requiring that $8 million be made available to implement projects within the City of Oakland as mitigation for the expanded tunnel.

You are invited to a public meeting to review and discuss the projects that are proposed to be funded with the City of Oakland settlement money:

Location: Kaiser Elementary School , 25 South Hill Court (Hiller Highlands Neighborhood)

Date & Time: Monday, November 8, 7:00 p.m.

(For carpool information from Rockridge BART, email info@rockridge.org.)

The proposed projects were developed with community representatives as part of the original settlement agreement with Caltrans. Walk Audits of the neighborhoods potentially impacted by the tunnel were conducted with community residents in June and July of this year to elicit further community input. The City of Oakland also contracted with an independent consultant to analyze and cost-estimate the projects. This process resulted in the project list which will be presented on November 8.  A map of the area, locations of proposed projects and links to fact sheets describing each potential project will be available online at www.fourthbore.org one week before the meeting.

For more information, please contact me at istarr@oaklandnet.com or (510) 238-6229.

Iris Starr, AICP

Division Manager of Infrastructure, Plans and Programming

————————————————————————————————————————————————-

For the Nov. 8 Draft Project List, click 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.