Construction Update (April 2023)

• The 65th/Shellmound crossing is expected to be re-opened on April 12th, 2023 to vehicles and bicyclists. Pedestrians will continue to be detoured to the Amtrak Pedestrian Bridge until Thursday morning (4/13/23) as concrete sidewalks dry. The City of Emeryville strongly encourages residents to plan ahead prior to leaving to their destination on this north end of the City.
• A half closure of 66th Street at the railroad crossing just east of Shellmound Street is scheduled for Thursday morning (4/13/23). The EB direction will be closed until Wednesday (4/19/23) when the WB direction will be closed as well. At that time on next Wednesday (4/19/23), the 66^th Street grade crossing will be permanently closed.
• There will continue to be minor traffic control/delays as various phases of construction occur to complete all sidewalk, traffic signal, and RR gate arm work that is necessary at the 65^th and 67^th Street crossings throughout April/May.
• New Traffic Signals at 67th/Shellmound and 67th/Hollis are expected to be installed and active in Spring/Summer 2023.

The Project began construction in June 2022 and was expected to complete in 6-9 months. An additional 6 months has been added to the project timeline due to delays with Union Pacific's scope of work that needs to be installed concurrent with City's scope of work. The City expects to be complete with construction in Summer 2023. 

Establishment of the “Quiet Zone” is expected to occur in late 2023 - early 2024.

Project Background

The Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017 (“SB 1”), signed into law on April 28, 2017, established the Trade Corridor Enhancement Account to fund corridor-based freight projects nominated by local agencies and the state. Implementing legislation was enacted with the approval of SB 103 on July 21, 2017 which directs the California Transportation Commission (“CTC”) to allocate the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (“TCEP”) funds and the federal National Highway Freight Program funds to infrastructure improvements along corridors that have a high volume of freight movement.

On December 19th, 2017, Emeryville’s City Council unanimously gave their verbal support to apply for 2018 SB 1 – TCEP funding with a project application for the Quiet Zone in Emeryville. Prior to this, the Emeryville Quiet Zone Project was a long-standing unfunded project in the City’s Capital Improvement Program. The Project scored very well in a highly competitive grant application process, bolstered with extra points in the scoring rubric by the support of 296 individual community members who signed onto a letter of support for this Project, as well as multiple businesses and homeowners associations who also wrote in support of the Project, representing thousands of Emeryville residents and workers.

On May 16, 2018, the CTC approved the 2018 Trade Corridor Enhancement Program Final Adopted Program of Projects. Included in this list of projects was the City’s $6.48 Million project, titled “Quiet Zone Safety Engineering Measures Project”. 

With funding secured and necessary approvals out of the way, the Project has continued project development through 2022 and is now ready to enter into the Construction Phase of the project in June 2022. 

Project Benefits and Scope

The Quiet Zone project will address community identified needs by installing supplemental safety measures (SSM’s) and other physical barriers to restrict pedestrians, bicyclists, and automobiles from entering the train tracks at the wrong time. These safety measures will qualify the railroad corridor to be declared a “Quiet Zone”, thereby negating the need for trains to blow their horns. 

Shellmound and 65th Street: 

• Installation of new quad gates and pedestrian gates.

Shellmound and 66th Street: 

• Full Closure of the crossing, and construction of a cul-de-sac on east side.

Shellmound and 67th Street: 

• Installation of new traffic signal, quad gates, and pedestrian gates.

The proposed safety engineering improvements are expected to significantly reduce the risk of rail-highway collisions at the project railroad crossings.

The preliminary studies show that we will experience a 90% reduction in risk after the installation of the proposed safety improvements.

Project Costs

The Quiet Zone project will address community identified needs by installing supplemental safety measures (SSM’s) and other physical barriers to restrict pedestrians, bicyclists, and automobiles from entering the train tracks at the wrong time. These safety measures will qualify the railroad corridor to be declared a “Quiet Zone”, thereby negating the need for trains to blow their horns.

$8.87M from a combination of:

• SB 1 “Gas Tax” 
  • Trade Corridor Enhancement Program (TCEP)
• ACTC
  • Measure BB Funds
  • CMA TIP Funds
• Local City Funds

Project Schedule

Click here to view latest project update presentation to our City Council

Thank you to the 296 individual residents (and to the thousands of other residents/workers represented by businesses and homeowner associations) that wrote letters in support of the project!