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News From SMART
Author: RailPAC
Date: 09-26-2008 - 15:14
From a SMART News release
Groundbreaking: Re-Opening of the Cal Park Tunnel
September 26, 2008
The first shovels of dirt were turned Wednesday for the planned re-opening of the Cal Park Hill Tunnel between San Rafael and Larkspur, an event celebrated at the site by officials representing the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District, the County of Marin, the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and other local and regional transportation agencies.
Those on hand Wednesday celebrated a landmark event that not only begins restoration of a historic transportation facility, but opens a portal into the future of multi-modal travel in the North Bay.
At completion - scheduled for December 2009 - the 1,100-foot tunnel and continuing bicycle and pedestrian pathway will provide a convenient non-motorized connection between San Rafael and Larkspur. But this facility offers the potential for much more: It links the two largest transit centers in the North Bay, the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and San Rafael's Bettini Transit Center. It connects with the planned Central Marin Ferry Connector Project, a bicycle-pedestrian facility providing access to the Ferry Terminal, the Cal Park Tunnel and the long-envisioned North-South Greenway through Marin County.
And it is a key component of a SMART's proposed 70-mile passenger train project that will operate from Cloverdale, in northern Sonoma County, to Larkspur, where the Golden Gate Ferry connects Marin County with San Francisco.
SMART and the County of Marin are equal partners in the tunnel rehabilitation project. SMART's share is funded by money made available through Regional Measure 2, a toll increase on Bay Area bridges approved by voters in 2004.
Lillian Hames, general manager of SMART, said the tunnel project is a microcosm of the entire SMART project. "This is a 1.1-mile project that allows people to get out of their cars, avoid congestion on Highway 101, have a healthy transportation choice and reduce global warming," Hames said, noting that the SMART project will extend that vision to 70 miles.
A model of inter-agency cooperation and planning, the Cal Park Hill Tunnel is a true multi-modal project that puts a multi-use trail through what will be an active train tunnel. This will be accomplished with a "tunnel within a tunnel" design that separates the 12-foot-wide trail from the rails through the length of the facility and that extends 30 feet beyond the portals at each end.
Drill Tech Drilling and Shoring Inc. of Antioch, Calif., is the contractor on the first phase of the project, an $11.3 million job that includes rebuilding the tunnel. The second phase, to be put out to bid next spring, will extend the pathway south of the tunnel to provide access to the Ferry Terminal and north of the tunnel to Anderson Drive west of Highway 101, connecting to existing pedestrian and bicycle facilities. Total project cost is projected at about $25 million.
The Cal Park Hill Tunnel first opened to rail service in 1884, and it was widened in 1924. The last passenger trains ran through it in 1941, and freight service was discontinued in the mid-1980s. It was blocked by collapses in the late 1980s, and further damaged by fire in 1990.
For more information visit our website [www.sonomamarintrain.org] or please feel free to contact us:
Groundbreaking: Re-Opening of the Cal Park Tunnel
September 26, 2008
The first shovels of dirt were turned Wednesday for the planned re-opening of the Cal Park Hill Tunnel between San Rafael and Larkspur, an event celebrated at the site by officials representing the Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit District, the County of Marin, the Marin County Bicycle Coalition and other local and regional transportation agencies.
Those on hand Wednesday celebrated a landmark event that not only begins restoration of a historic transportation facility, but opens a portal into the future of multi-modal travel in the North Bay.
At completion - scheduled for December 2009 - the 1,100-foot tunnel and continuing bicycle and pedestrian pathway will provide a convenient non-motorized connection between San Rafael and Larkspur. But this facility offers the potential for much more: It links the two largest transit centers in the North Bay, the Larkspur Ferry Terminal and San Rafael's Bettini Transit Center. It connects with the planned Central Marin Ferry Connector Project, a bicycle-pedestrian facility providing access to the Ferry Terminal, the Cal Park Tunnel and the long-envisioned North-South Greenway through Marin County.
And it is a key component of a SMART's proposed 70-mile passenger train project that will operate from Cloverdale, in northern Sonoma County, to Larkspur, where the Golden Gate Ferry connects Marin County with San Francisco.
SMART and the County of Marin are equal partners in the tunnel rehabilitation project. SMART's share is funded by money made available through Regional Measure 2, a toll increase on Bay Area bridges approved by voters in 2004.
Lillian Hames, general manager of SMART, said the tunnel project is a microcosm of the entire SMART project. "This is a 1.1-mile project that allows people to get out of their cars, avoid congestion on Highway 101, have a healthy transportation choice and reduce global warming," Hames said, noting that the SMART project will extend that vision to 70 miles.
A model of inter-agency cooperation and planning, the Cal Park Hill Tunnel is a true multi-modal project that puts a multi-use trail through what will be an active train tunnel. This will be accomplished with a "tunnel within a tunnel" design that separates the 12-foot-wide trail from the rails through the length of the facility and that extends 30 feet beyond the portals at each end.
Drill Tech Drilling and Shoring Inc. of Antioch, Calif., is the contractor on the first phase of the project, an $11.3 million job that includes rebuilding the tunnel. The second phase, to be put out to bid next spring, will extend the pathway south of the tunnel to provide access to the Ferry Terminal and north of the tunnel to Anderson Drive west of Highway 101, connecting to existing pedestrian and bicycle facilities. Total project cost is projected at about $25 million.
The Cal Park Hill Tunnel first opened to rail service in 1884, and it was widened in 1924. The last passenger trains ran through it in 1941, and freight service was discontinued in the mid-1980s. It was blocked by collapses in the late 1980s, and further damaged by fire in 1990.
For more information visit our website [www.sonomamarintrain.org] or please feel free to contact us:
| Subject | Written By | Date/Time (PST) |
|---|---|---|
 News From SMART |
RailPAC | 09-26-2008 - 15:14 |