SamTrans Looks to Improve Travel on Dumbarton Corridor
The SamTrans Board of Directors adopted the Final Dumbarton Transportation Corridor Study, in an effort to create new mobility alternatives along the Dumbarton Corridor between Alameda County, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties. The draft study was initially presented to the Board in August, after which SamTrans conducted outreach efforts to solicit stakeholder and public comments on the plan.
The study evaluated a wide range of transportation alternatives, and recommends operations and infrastructure improvements that would be phased in over time on the Dumbarton Rail Bridge, the highway bridge and its approaches. As a result of outreach efforts, a bicycle/pedestrian multi-use path in the Dumbarton rail right-of-way from Redwood City to East Palo Alto will be investigated further in subsequent technical refinement analysis.
In the near-term, the study recommends increasing the frequency of the existing Dumbarton Express service and adding two new routes. Bridge approach improvements are also recommended to help speed up bus service. These changes would cost approximately $51 million and operational costs of $12 million. The improvements could accommodate 13,700 more transbay riders daily, a 34 percent increase over the current rate.
The study recommends establishing commuter rail “shuttle” service running on the Dumbarton right-of-way and Rail Bridge between Redwood City and Newark with the goal of extending to Union City. The initial connection would cost approximately $975 million in capital costs to bring the bridge up to required safety standards and provide for dual tracks, with another $295 million in estimated costs needed to extend to Union City. This would provide transportation to 15,600 transbay riders daily and would be the first transbay rail transit option since BART opened the Transbay Tube in 1974. The study’s recommendations also include operating bus service next to rail in the Dumbarton right-of-way, with a bus-only connection to planned express lanes on US 101, express lanes improvements from Interstate 880 to US Highway 101, and a number of other more capitally intensive approach improvements meant to further enhance Dumbarton Express bus services.
In the long-term, the study calls for the commuter rail service operating on the Dumbarton Rail Bridge to be interlined with Caltrain and includes better connections with ACE and Capitol Corridor. This would require approximately $327 million in additional funds.
Funding to complete the near-term and long-term improvements will need to be secured. Senate Bill 595, which authorized the Metropolitan Transportation Commission to ask voters to approve a regional bridge toll increase, includes $130 million for initial investment in mobility improvements on the Dumbarton Corridor.
The study was a collaborative project that enlisted the San Mateo County Transportation Authority, Alameda County Transportation Commission, AC Transit, and Facebook as partners, as well as the cities in the corridor.
