(The following story by Ian Bauer appeared on the Milpitas Post website on April 9, 2009.)
MILPITAS, Calif. — A caravan of tractor-trailer rigs rumbled by geotechnical engineer Manuel Hernandez near the end of Railroad Avenue in Milpitas.
The passing trucks, shaking the Marylinn Drive area, were diligently dumping soil and rock to be graded and compressed into a foundation for a railway project underneath the Abel Street overpass.
“The grading started approximately two weeks ago. The project is set to last 18 months,” Hernandez said above the din as he inspected the work, seeing that the soil was being placed properly for the foundation.
The activity on Railroad Avenue is part of Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority’s Freight Railroad Relocation Project a four-year project that got underway last year and intends to move Union Pacific Railroad’s north and south freight lines in the cities of Milpitas and Fremont.
One of the initial efforts to prepare this corridor was beginning the relocation of utilities, which began in July 2008 and is set to continue into fall 2009. All work will occur within the railroad corridor and as proposed will eventually move about eight miles of railroad lines from Fremont at Grimmer Boulevard through Milpitas to Montague Expressway.
“The purpose of the FRR project is to relocate freight rail tracks off of property that VTA purchased from Union Pacific Railroad,” Linh Hoang, a VTA spokesperson, said. “This project will help secure vital space for a future mass transit system to be built alongside the existing railroad tracks.”
She added VTA in partnership with the Santa Clara Valley Water District is conducting construction work in the vicinity of Abel Street. The current contracted work includes seismic retrofit on the Abel Street overpass, building a new Berryessa Creek culvert structure to reduce exposure to flooding, and construction of a temporary railroad cutover track.
“The temporary cutover track will allow existing railroad operations to continue as normal until improvements to the Berryessa Creek bridge structure (Abel Street overpass) and Berryessa Creek culvert can be built during the 2009 dry season,” Hoang said.
She added the work near the overpass will not be an underpass but a temporary railroad cutover track, which will be approximately 1,400 feet in length.
Hoang said construction of the Berryessa Creek work is expected to continue through December 2011, minus the months between September and March considered the wet season in which crews are not allowed in the creek bed to avoid disturbing creek wildlife.
“Upon completion of the track bed installation, (Union Pacific) will install new railroad track and signal work to support freight operations along the corridor,” she said, adding work is scheduled for completion by spring 2012.
Hoang said the total cost of the railroad relocation project is $250 million, while the current contracted construction work within the Milpitas creek is approximately $15 million.
She added crews will be able to complete phase one of the utility relocation work this month.
Hoang said between June and October 2008, existing utilities along the FRR alignment were relocated to lower depths a horizontal drilling method used beneath creeks and roads. She added horizontal drilling saves time and created less traffic congestion for the Milpitas area, for an overall project that is still on schedule.
Future work will occur in south Fremont, where railroad relocation work will incorporate the Mission-Warren Truck Rail Project.
At Mission Boulevard, California Department of Transportation, City of Fremont and Alameda County Transportation Authority are planning to widen Mission Boulevard as it crosses under current Union Pacific train tracks.
The project will remove the current railroad bridge and construct a longer single double-tracked bridge with realigned tracks for rail freight and space for future transit. At Warren Avenue, the roadway will be simultaneously depressed and grade-separated under newly constructed bridges.
The project schedule for the Warren Avenue Bridge construction will be from October 2009 to April 2012.
In addition, Mission Boulevard construction and widening will occur from March 2010 to July 2011; railroad relocation and construction will occur from May 2009 to November 2010; and Warren Avenue Grade Separation work will occur from July 2011 to February 2012.
After all railroad operations are proceeding as normal, the old railroad line will be abandoned and removed to clear the corridor for future transit.
For more information about the Freight Railroad Relocation Project, contact VTA Community Outreach at 321-7575 or visit www.vta.org.