With Shoofly Construction, Caltrain Warns Residents to Expect Noise, Traffic Closures

The next six months for people living and driving near the railroad tracks downtown are going to be nothing short of a hassle.

In a presentation to residents on Wednesday at , Caltrain representatives explained that work on the $147 million is going to pick up, which means more noise and traffic closures.

Most of the work will be focused on building a shoofly for Caltrain, which will create two new tracks to divert trains around the current tracks while heavy construction begins on the grade separation, said Todd McIntyre, Caltrain’s community relations manager.

That means when the shoofly is complete, expected in October, trains will be 25 feet closer to homes on First Avenue, McIntyre said.

McIntyre also explained that the shoofly construction will be coupled with temporary street closures over the weekends on San Bruno, San Mateo and Angus avenues. The closures are expected to start in mid-September, beginning at 8 p.m. on Fridays, with the streets gradually being reopened over the weekends.

Out of those six months of construction, two months will be filled with nearly nonstop daytime pile driving as crews begin to start working on raising the train tracks over the three crossings.

Councilman Ken Ibarra, who along with Mayor Jim Ruane, sat on the city’s committee that helped develop the Caltrain project, chimed in to make sure Caltrain wasn’t sugarcoating the hassle.

“These residents have gone through the BART construction (during the late 1990s) and a whole series of disruptions, so let’s not beat around the bush with the this pile driving,” Ibarra said. “There’s no around it. It’s going to be a pain in the ass.”

The six-month construction period will consist of excavation work in which crews will be testing and moving soil from the grade separation area, McIntyre said.

A few residents had some concerns after the presentation.

Expressing concern for safety, one resident said she wanted Caltrain to install security cameras in each underpass that will be created once the three crossings are finished. While Caltrain will be installing security cameras, said project manager Rafael Bolon, they will only be installed on the elevated train station and in the two crossings at San Bruno and San Mateo Avenue.

Another resident also wanted to know what would happen to the parking at the current Caltrain station on Sylvan Avenue once the temporary station is created about 700 feet south of its current location. Bolon said Caltrain is still working on those details but that most of the parking spaces should be replaced.

Some residents were also concerned about how the would affect the project. Caltrain has plans to add two additional tracks to the project to accomodate high-speed rail, which could possibly move the project closer to homes on First Avenue.

However, McIntyre said Caltrain could pull out of those plans and build the grade separation with only two tracks if the high-speed rails plans fall through.

For questions about the grade separation project, call Caltrain's office of public affairs at 650-508-7726 or email sbgradesep@caltrain.com.

To see the list of complaints Caltrain and the city have received since the project began in November 2010, see the attached documents.