$70M in state funding for Burlingame grade separation not included in most recent budget
Plans to fix the most dangerous train crossing in California — Burlingame’s Broadway intersection — are up in the air as $70 million in state funding for a grade separation was not included in a May state budget revision.
A May 28 press conference hosted by state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, emphasized the importance of completing grade separation projects across the Peninsula, where Caltrain hopes to realign roads under or over railway crossings to reduce accidents and congestion.
State funding is especially necessary for the project to fill remaining funding gaps with federal money, Becker said.
“Obviously we have to make difficult trade-offs,” he said of an upcoming $28 billion state deficit causing program cuts across California. “But we’re trying to communicate that this is necessary for federal matching funds.”
Two other high-priority grade separation projects in Palo Alto and Mountain View lost $23.79 million and $20 million in funding, respectively, in the revised state budget.
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