Bay Meadows

A long planned improvement for the Hillsdale Caltrain Station got very real this month: the majority of funding for a $165.3 million grade separation and station relocation has been secured by the City of San Mateo.

The project involves elevating Caltrain tracks between Hillsdale Boulevard and Highway 92 in San Mateo, as well as elevating the Hillsdale station and moving it north. The project also includes new grade separations at 25th, 28th and 31st avenues,

What does that mean for Bay Meadows? Traversing the tracks will be safer and easier as the project includes raising the railroad above street level at three key intersections. The project will also help connect neighborhoods to shopping and recreation, including tying Bay Meadows more easily to the Hillsdale Shopping Center and the Beresford neighborhood.

“The Shopping Center will benefit from creation of the new street connection at 31st Avenue, in particular, with improved access to the Shopping Center,” according to Robert L. Webster, President and CEO of the Hillsdale Shopping Center’s owner Bohannon.

San Mateo’s project has been touted as a model for how costly grade separations should be funded. The California High Speed Rail Authority will fund up to $84 million with the City putting in $6 million and another $10 million from Caltrans.

The project is expected to improve traffic flow ahead of Caltrain’s electrification project, which will allow more trains to run. Additionally, a new station will be “a sight to see,” according to San Mateo Mayor Joe Goethals. “It’s really going to [support] a huge increase in ridership.”

Once electrification of Caltrain is complete, commuters could be riding and estimated 10 trains per hour in each direction. The grade separation project is expected to break ground in early 2017 with construction complete by 2019. For more info on the project, visit the City of San Mateo’s website >

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