Features

Caltrans announced Thursday that it is “moving full speed ahead” with perhaps the most eagerly awaited transit project in Contra Costa County and one of the least loved in Berkeley. 

The fourth bore to the Caldecott Tunnel should be completed by 2012 at a cost of between $200 million and $400 million, said Caltrans Director Will Kempton at a press conference atop the tunnel connecting Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The new bore would be located to the north of the other three, where Caltrans has secured the right-of-way. 

Caltrans currently devotes two two-lane bores heading in the direction of rush hour traffic and one in the opposite direction. The result is often that traffic backs up going towards Contra Costa County in the morning and towards Berkeley in the evening. 

The media gathering came the day after state legislators grilled Caltrans officials at a hearing over $2.5 billion in cost overruns on the Bay Bridge retrofit project. 

Pressed about the timing of Thursday’s announcement, Kempton refused to touch on the bridge controversy, but said the agency was pushing reforms. “We’re looking to improve our project management and operate more like a business,” he said. 

Kempton emphasized a memorandum of understanding among Caltrans, the Contra Costa Transportation Authority and the Alameda County Congestion Agency to handle potential conflicts and keep the tunnel project on track. 

Contra Costa politicians have pressed for the tunnel project for years and Berkeley has opposed it every step of the way. In 2000, the City Council voted unanimously to oppose the project, fearing that a fourth bore would mean more commuters driving their cars through Berkeley streets on their way to work. 

“It’s not going to do us any good,” said Transportation Commission Chair Rob Wrenn. He said he thinks the project will encourage more commuters to drive to jobs at UC Berkeley. 

“Instead of being creative and offering free BART rides and shuttles, Caltrans threw in the towel and decided to further clog roads,” said Stuart Cohen, executive director of the Transportation and Land Use Coalition. 

Ann Smulka, a transportation commissioner who lives in southeast Berkeley, said noise is a big issue in her part of town. Recently she began contacts with Oakland neighborhood organizations that have pressed for effective measures to lessen the impacts of construction and anticipated traffic. 

The project has been essentially a done deal since November when Contra Costa voters approved the extension of a sales tax earmarking $125 million for the tunnel. Previously a regional transportation initiative passed last March set aside $50 million for the project and Caltrans has already committed $40 million. 

Alameda County has pledged $8 million to pay for mitigations for surrounding neighborhoods, said Dennis Fay, executive director of the Alameda County Congestion Agency. Proposals include sound walls and bicycle access at the bore. 

Since commuters from Contra Costa County into Berkeley already have the advantage of two available bores, Fay didn’t think the fourth bore with traffic going in the opposite direction would attract more rush hour commuters into Berkeley. 

“The real advantage will be for people commuting from Alameda to Contra Costa County,” he said. 

Bob McCleary, executive director of Contra Costa County Transportation Authority, said the main issue for his county wasn’t to improve work commutes, but to provide predictability for off peak and weekend trips.  

“A lot of people from Contra Costa go to Cal sporting events and restaurants in Berkeley and Oakland weekend evenings when the traffic is horrendous,” he said. McCleary added that a 2000 Metropolitan Transportation Commission Study studying different alternatives to improve transit recommended proceeding with construction of the fourth bore. 

The price tag for the project will depend on whether the fourth bore has two or three lanes. A two lane design, favored by Caltrans, is estimated to cost between $200 million and $250 million, while the three lane design would push the costs closer to $400 million. 

A draft Environmental Impact Report, being prepared by Parsons Transportation Group, is due out by the fall, said Cristina Ferraz, Caltrans’ project manager for the tunnel. Caltrans, she said, would schedule a new round of public hearings to coincide with the release of the report. 

›