Months of Road Closures Begin in San Bruno

Written by Will Reisman of Caltrain:

Caltrain’s ongoing grade-separation project in San Bruno will require four separate street closures in July and August.

Starting on July 22, construction began excavating and removing portions of the roadway to lower the streets and allow for greater vehicle clearance under the crossings. Once completed, the clearance for each intersection will be approximately 15 feet.

The following is a list of road closure times and dates:

-      Angus Avenue will be closed from 8 a.m. on Monday, July 22 until 5 p.m. on Saturday, July 27.

-      San Mateo Avenue will be closed from 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 9 until 5 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 12.

-      San Bruno Avenue will be closed on two separate occasions.

Closure #1 will require partial closure of the street from 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 16 until 5 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 19.

Closure #2 will completely shut down San Bruno Avenue. That closure is tentatively scheduled for 8 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 23 until 5 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 2, pending approval from the City of San Bruno.

During the closures, Caltrain will establish pedestrian and motorist detours. During the full shutdown of San Bruno, electronic signs will be displayed on Highway 101 and El Camino Real to direct traffic to Interstate 380. For more project information, visit www.caltrain.com/sbgs, email sbgradesep@caltrain.com or call the Construction Hotline at 650-508-7726.

The grade separation is a $155 million project that will dramatically improve safety in downtown San Bruno by elevating the train tracks over San Bruno, San Mateo and Angus avenues.

Grade separations reduce accidents by separating vehicle and pedestrian traffic from train tracks at railroad crossings. Since the Ralston/Harbor/Holly Grade Separation Project in Belmont and San Carlos was completed in 2001, there have been only two fatalities in the area. Before the grade separation, five fatalities occurred in the area during an eight-year period.  

San Bruno’s grade separation project is funded by $92.5 million in sales tax revenues from Measure A, a voter-approved half-cent sales tax for transit and transportation projects in San Mateo County. Those Measure A dollars were leveraged to attract $55.9 million in state funds and $6.6 million in federal funds. Fifteen percent of all the funds collected under the reauthorized measure (approved by voters in 2004) are allocated to Caltrain grade separation projects.