3. Proposed Rail Crossing
The County's application summarizes the need for the at-grade crossing as follows:
School children have been crossing the UPRR track in the vicinity of 16th Street in San Miguel to travel to and from the Lillian Larson Elementary School westerly of the site of the proposed crossing. There is no official crossing provided at that location resulting [in] an undesirable condition of random crossing of the tracks. The County desires to install an at-grade pedestrian crossing of the railroad tracks in that location to enhance safety by channeling pedestrians to an official crossing. The proposed crossing shall be designed in accordance with appropriate design requirements of the CPUC and UPRR to achieve an acceptable crossing. (Application, at 1.)
Union Pacific's traffic engineering witness suggested an alternative - blocking the 16th Street dirt path, fencing the track between 14th and 16th Streets and to the north of 16th Street to prevent trespassing, and enhancing the existing 14th Street crossing to include sidewalks and a traffic light. Many children already use 14th Street to reach the school, but that crossing would require an extra walk of six or seven blocks for the children who live north of that area and now use the path at 16th Street. The County's witnesses testified that Union Pacific's proposal would be less safe, since children would cross a number of intersections to reach 14th Street, cross the tracks and walk back to the school. Moreover, the 14th Street crossing has no dedicated public walkway, forcing pedestrians to share the road with vehicles.
Union Pacific also proposed an above-ground crossing at 16th Street, but its witnesses acknowledged that the cost ($2.7 million) would be difficult to justify for a relatively limited use. They also acknowledged that it would be difficult to prevent children from bypassing the structure, even with fencing, and crossing the tracks as they do now. Dean Smith, school superintendent, testified that children frequently climb or create holes in the fencing around the school's playfield.
County Supervisor Harry Ovitt testified that the problem will get worse, since San Miguel is experiencing rapid growth as a lower-cost bedroom community for nearby Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo. He estimated that about 750 new housing units will be built in the community within the next 10 years.
The Lillian Larson School is attended by 380 children, but it also serves many teenagers and adults with after-school programs. The athletic fields adjoining the school are the main recreational fields in San Miguel.
Union Pacific's witnesses testified that the need for a new rail crossing was never established in any traffic study and is not contemplated in the County's general plan or in the San Miguel Community Design Plan. They added that the County has made no investment in studying the gates and safety devices proposed for the new rail crossing, and that its suggestion for a locking gate device is untested and dangerous (since children could accidentally be locked on the tracks inside the gates). The County's witnesses admitted that they have no firm plans for fencing the tracks to prevent trespassing, and they may have to wait until they can impose fencing requirements on developers who seek permits for work on parcels adjacent to the tracks. The County expects to seek funding to build the crossing, but it had not done so at the time of the hearing.
Union Pacific notes that new public at-grade rail-pedestrian crossings over its tracks are rare. During the past 10 years, only one at-grade pedestrian crossing open to public use has been authorized on a mainline route of the Union Pacific system in California. That one, at Morgan Hill, serves rail passengers crossing the tracks from a parking lot and downtown businesses. One other pedestrian crossing was authorized in 2005 in the City of Mendota, but the crossing there is over a branch line that serves only three trains per week, all operated at a maximum speed of 10 miles per hour.
The proposed at-grade crossing here is located on Union Pacific's "Coast Line," which provides a north/south route connecting the Los Angeles Basin with the San Francisco Bay Area and east to Union Pacific's Roseville yard. Union Pacific currently averages 10 through freight trains per day on this line operating at a maximum speed of 40 miles per hour. Amtrak operates two daily intercity passenger trains over the line. A local train operates on the line on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.
