In a Northern California first, work is under way to install double carpool lanes in both directions on a freeway.

The new lanes will be built along a three-mile stretch of Highway 101 between Highway 85 in Mountain View and Embarcadero Road in Palo Alto.

Along with merging lanes also being built, the new look will turn this section into one of the widest in the region, with 12 lanes. And all the extra asphalt also offers a glimpse into our commuting future.

The widening sets the stage for more toll lanes, including a second set of carpool lanes up and down 101 from Morgan Hill to the San Mateo County border.

In the next year or two, the eastbound Interstate 580 carpool lane in the Tri-Valley will be widened to include two toll lanes, also known as express lanes. And by 2015, a second set of carpool lanes could line Highway 85 through the Almaden Valley area of South San Jose.

Currently, there are double carpool lanes only on the approaches to the toll plazas at the San Mateo and Bay bridges, but none on area freeways except for short stretches where two carpool lanes merge at interchanges.

"All else equal, two lanes per direction makes for a better (toll) lane than one per direction," said Bob Poole, transportation director of the Reason Foundation think tank. "You can pass slow vehicles, be more flexible in case of a breakdown or accident, etc.

"And you can charge a lower toll if you have two lanes to accommodate paying customers instead of one."

Highway 101 ranks as one of the toughest commutes in the South Bay, and the stretch from Shoreline Boulevard north to Palo Alto is perhaps the nastiest. As the economy improves and more drivers join the commute, traffic jams will only get worse.

But a second set of carpool and merging lanes could ease the frequent lane changing that contributes mightily to slowdowns on this freeway. Motorists often slow to speeds under 20 mph as they approach their exits, leading trailing drivers to slam on their brakes.

"It's scary," said Megan Vaughn, 29, of San Jose. "I've seen people in the carpool lane literally stop when trying to move over for their exit. I hope a second carpool lane would bring an end to this."

Added Ed Mullen, a 51-year-old accountant from Mountain View: "The ride home is usually heavy or stop-and-go. A lot of the time the HOV lane is only moving slightly better than the rest of us, so I would guess there are enough frustrated drivers that would pay to move a little quicker."

Despite a decline in overall carpooling nationwide over the past two decades, diamond lanes on some Bay Area freeways -- including 101, I-80 and I-880 -- are filling up. It's common, engineers and commuters say, to find carpool traffic barely moving faster than lanes filled by solo drivers.

Bound by federal mandates to keep carpool-lane speeds flowing at 45 mph or faster, traffic planners say they have few choices to ease commutes and raise the money to pay for more road work. They can require carpools to contain three people instead of two, or they can add a second carpool lane.

"Increasing the occupancy requirement may be the logical solution if adding a second carpool lane is inappropriate," said Caltrans' Joseph Rouse, who oversees carpool lanes in the state. "However, going from two-plus to three-plus (occupants) may reduce vehicular demand by 75 to 85 percent. Such an adjustment may be too severe if

only a 10 percent to 20 percent reduction is necessary to maintain free-flow conditions."

As usual, Southern California is ahead of the Bay Area in testing the new approach. There are double carpool lanes on I-5 for a couple of miles south of I-405 in Orange County, and on I-110 in Los Angeles from I-105 to south of downtown Los Angeles. And there are projects under way to add double carpool lanes on I-10 and along more of I-110 in Los Angeles.

There are also two express lanes in each direction on Route 91 in Orange County, with an extension planned into Riverside County. And there are two express lanes in each direction on I-15 north of San Diego.

Not all freeways will get a second carpool lane, usually because there isn't room to add more than one. That's the case on I-880 through San Jose, where a carpool lane is being added, and on I-80 east of the Bay Bridge.

The widening of I-880 in the South Bay will run from Highway 237 almost to 101, with major changes scheduled for the Brokaw Road interchange. A carpool lane will be added on the southbound onramp and the merge lane extended 700 feet.

On the northbound side, the ramps will be shifted 70 feet east and there will be two lanes to turn left and two more to turn right. The tight, curvy two-lane ramp to north 880 will be smoothed out.

California legislators should deny Gov. Jerry Brown's requests for all but minimal funding for the California High-Speed Rail Authority in the current budget process, the Legislative Analyst's Office recommended Tuesday, April 17.

The nonpartisan analyst's office, which provides fiscal and policy advice to the Legislature, said the rail authority has failed to provide sufficient detail and justification for its plan to build a high-speed train system.

"Specifically, funding for the project remains highly speculative and important details have not been sorted out," Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor said in a 12-page report.

In its most recent business plan, the rail authority projected the first phase of the project will cost $68 billion. However, the authority has secured only about $9 billion in voter-approved bond funds and $3.5 billion in federal funds.

Consistent with the new business plan, Brown's 2012-13 budget plan requests $5.9 billion to continue the project, consisting of $2.6 billion in state bond funds matched with $3.3 billion in federal funds to start construction in the Central Valley.

In addition, about $800 million is requested to improve existing passenger rail services and about $250 million to complete preliminary design work and environmental reviews for various sections of the project.

"In this brief report, we find that HSRA has not provided sufficient detail and justification to the Legislature regarding its plan to build a high-speed train system," the analyst said.

"We recommend the Legislature not approve the governor's various budget proposals to provide additional funding for the project. However, we do recommend that some minimal funding be provided to continue planning efforts that are currently underway."

An "all-you-can-fly" airline startup looking to get its business off the ground is eying Palo Alto's airport as a key stop for its operation.

Santa Monica-based Surf Airlines Inc., or Surf Air, plans to offer its members unlimited flights between smaller, less congested regional airports on the west coast -- in Palo Alto, Monterey, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.

Using eight-passenger aircraft, the company would provide the service for a monthly fee of between $800 and $1,500, depending on the number of reservations a traveler makes, CEO Wade Eyerly said.

The company began accepting membership to its program April 5, but service is not due to begin until it receives final approval from the Federal Aviation Administration -- expected sometime in the middle of summer, Eyerly said.

Administration regulations prohibit Eyerly from disclosing the exact start date and planned number of flights per day until the final approval. He said that the company would begin by using two planes, one that visits each of the four airports and one shuttles directly between Palo Alto and an airport in Los Angeles.

Similar restrictions required that he not disclose which airport in Los Angeles the company would use.

"We would love to be turning a plane constantly every half hour," he said. "If it takes 74 minutes to get down (to Los Angeles) and 84 minutes to get back up, you can make an educated guess at what (the southern California airport) would be."

Eyerly called small airports "America's most underused infrastructure," saying that half of them operate at 10 percent capacity.

In the fourth quarter of 2011, Palo Alto's airport had 500 take-offs and landings -- just 60 percent of the airport's 30-year high, said Bob Lennox, vice president of the Palo Alto Airport Association.

"There's plenty of room for growth of operations," he said, noting that he wouldn't think congestion would be a problem even if there were 20 more "operations" -- the term used to describe single take-off and a single landing.

"Any extra use for anyone who wants to use the Palo Alto airport for commercial use -- as a way for people to get around -- as opposed to those who do it for fun is a valuable thing," said Ralph Britton, the association's president.

He called Palo Alto "the sweet spot" -- a middle point between San Jose and San Francisco that's populated with the likes of attorneys, engineers and venture capitalists, all of whom he thinks would use his service.

Eyerly said Surf Air is still in the process of raising seed funding from investors. He would not disclose numbers or name investors until the funding round has closed. Eyerly said Surf Air received support from Los Angeles-based incubator Muckerlab, including $21,000 in funding.

Eyerly, a former intelligence officer and an aide to the former Vice President Dick Cheney, founded the company with his brother David, a former manager at Frontier Airlines.

Possible routes for future expansion could include from Los Angeles to Las Vegas or Palo Alto to Sacramento, Tahoe and Napa, he said.

Caltrain's stalled effort to electrify its tracks flickered to life Wednesday morning when the Metropolitan Transportation Commission approved an agreement with the California High-Speed Rail Authority that includes as its centerpiece a plan for funding the electrification project.

Calling it a major "milestone" in Caltrain's long quest to modernize its system, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission board voted to approve a "memorandum of understanding" with the rail authority that includes $1.5 billion for electrification and new train signals. Under the agreement, the rail authority would supply about half of the funds for the long-awaited project, with the rest coming from local and regional agencies.

The agreement was spearheaded by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the rail authority with participation from a variety of regional agencies, including the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board (which operates Caltrain), San Francisco County Transportation Authority, San Mateo County Transportation Authority (Samtrans), Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority. It is a key component of the rail authority's "new vision" for the controversial system -- a vision that calls for early investments in the northern and southern segments of the line. The rail authority still plans to begin construction in the Central Valley.

The agreement was heralded by various Metropolitan Transportation Commission board members, local officials and Caltrain advocates as a huge step toward electrification, a project that the cash-strapped agency is banking on for long-term financial stability. With electrified tracks and a new signal system, Caltrain would be able to operate more trains and, as a result, generate more revenue.

"This really is the foundation for electrification and, really, for the future of Caltrian," said MTC board Chair Adrienne Tissier, who also chairs Caltrain's board of directors.

For the rail authority, the new agreement provides a way to appease some of its critics on the Peninsula, where opposition to the project has been particularly fierce. Palo Alto in December adopted as its official position a call for termination of the high-speed rail project. It has also joined Menlo Park, Atherton and a coalition of nonprofit groups in a lawsuit that challenge's the rail authority's environmental analyses for the San Francisco-to-Los Angeles project. Electrification also supports the rail authority's long-term plan to stretch the voter-approved rail system along the Caltrain corridor.

Some local officials form the Peninsula raised concerns about the document Wednesday, arguing that it is not explicit enough in committing the rail authority to a "blended" system in which high-speed rail and Caltrain share two tracks. Burlingame City Councilman Michael Brownrigg said the new contract is "weak" when it comes to rejecting the previously considered four-track alternative.

Richard Hackmann, a management specialist with Palo Alto's city manager's office, told the Metropolitan Transportation Commission board the city sees the new agreement as an opportunity "to rebuild a working relationship with the High-Speed Rail Authority while moving forward with electrification of Caltrain on the corridor." Like Brownrigg, Hackmann said his city would like to see a written agreement specifying that the rail system would not use the four-track design.

"We want to make sure it's done in a way that does not adversely affect communities," Hackmann said.

Tissier said that while the two-track design is not specified in the Memorandum of Understanding, it will be detailed in the rail authority's new business plan, which is scheduled to be released in the coming weeks.

Other critics of the high-speed rail project lauded the new document, which they characterized as a critical step toward improving Caltrain. The agency, which has no dedicated source of funding, has a structural deficit and has been relying on one-time funding sources to keep its service levels intact for the past two years. Yoriko Kishimoto, a former Palo Alto mayor who co-founded the group Friends of Caltrain, was among those who praised the agreement.

"There is much work still left to do, but the day seems to be arriving for Caltrain electrification and modernization," Kishimoto told the board. "I truly thank all of you and all the leaders who have worked to align the stars on this day."

Michael Scanlon, CEO of Caltrain, called Wednesday a "historic day" for Caltrain and said the new agreement provides "the framework, and only the framework, for development of high-speed rail to proceed in a reasonable, pragmatic and, I believe, enlightened way."

"Everyone does not quite agree, but Caltrain staff is fully committed to continuing to working with the stakeholders," Scanlon said. "The work only begins when you start constructing a project and you really have to know how to listen to and work with communities."

Even with the new document, which the rail authority plans to consider next month, Caltrain's electrification is far from a done deal. The project is banking on funds from Proposition 1A, a 2008 measure approved by California voters that devotes $9.95 billion for the new rail system. But while voters approved the bond measure, it is still up to the state Legislature to release the rail funds. With the project enjoying mixed support in Sacramento (and overwhelming opposition by Republicans), it's far from clear when the funds for electrification will be released.

Dan Richard, chair of the rail authority's board of directors, indicated at a public hearing in Mountain View earlier this month that the board doesn't plan to ask the legislature for electrification funds this year. Instead, its funding request will focus on the "initial construction segment" in the Central Valley. The rail authority's plan is to start building the line in the middle and to later stretch it north and south.

Caltrain is one step closer to receiving the electrification and modernization officials say the system desperately needs.

An agreement between the California High-Speed Rail Authority and more than half a dozen Bay Area public agencies will entirely fund an upgrade to the system, which includes modernization, agency spokeswoman Christine Dunn announced in a statement Thursday morning.

According to Dunn, the funding agreement uses local, regional and federal dollars to leverage hundreds of millions of dollars matched by the high-speed rail authority.

The electrification and modernization of Caltrain have been in the works for more than a decade, and are "critically-needed improvements that will dramatically improve the service and help ensure the long-term viability of the commuter rail system," Dunn said in the statement.

The announcement comes just a week after Assemblyman Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, urged Peninsula residents at a news conference at the San Mateo Caltrain Station to get on board with the electrification of Caltrain.

Once the system is electrified, Caltrain will be able to operate lighter-weight electric vehicles with major performance advantages compared to the existing diesel rail technology.

Trains will be faster, cleaner, quieter and more efficient, according to Caltrain officials.

In addition, riders will see more frequent service to more stations, which will result in increased ridership and prepare the system to accommodate future job growth.

Modernizing Caltrain is also an important step in stabilizing the rail agency’s long-struggling finances. Caltrain is one of the few transit agencies in the country that does not have its own, dedicated tax base or source of revenue.

“Electrification is an essential improvement that is critical to the future of the system,” Executive Director Mike Scanlon said in a statement.

“This is an enormous step forward that prioritizes these improvements and delivers early benefits to the Caltrain system, its riders and surrounding communities,” he said.

Plans for the electrification of Caltrain still need to be approved by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission at its meeting next week, as well as the boards of all the public agencies, and the state legislature will also need to sign off on the bond, Caltrain spokesman Seamus Murphy said.

If approved, Caltrain could be electrified as soon as 2020, more than a decade before it is assumed in the most recent version of the High Speed Rail Business Plan.

Caltrain is currently assessing the possibilities of various blended system alternatives to the four-track system, which the agency opposes, to determine what specific infrastructure improvements will eventually be needed to support high-speed rail and how they can be designed to minimize impacts on surrounding communities.

Local municipalities and agencies have long been encouraging residents to get out of their cars and explore alternative modes of transportation. One option launching this August: a Bikeshare program in Palo Alto and neighboring cities along the Peninsula, reported KQED.

Bay Area Air Quality Management District partnered with local transit agencies to combine local grant money with an allotted $4.3 million from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s Climate Initiatives Grant. The money will provide more than 1,000 bicycles to the public along the Caltrain corridor. There will be 100 bicycles Palo Alto, 100 in Redwood City, 100 in Mountain View, 200 in San Jose and 500 in San Francisco.

Much like a car-share program such as ZipCar, members will be able to subscribe to a monthly service and go check out "iconic" bikes from kiosks in participating cities.

Partners include the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, the San Mateo County Transit District, the City of Redwood City, the Bay Area Air Quality management District (BAAQMD) and the SAMTRANS.

Community Meeting #2 - Thursday, March 29, 2012

6:30-8:30pm
Lucie Stern Community Center - Community Room, 1305 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto, 94301
Click here to view the announcement flyer with more details!

What is the Rail Corridor Study?

The City Council of Palo Alto initiated the Palo Alto Rail Corridor Study in July 2010 to evaluate land use, transportation and urban design improvements for the rail corridor. The study will generate a vision  - derived through an extensive community outreach effort – for the corridor that extends from the San Antonio Caltrain station to Palo Alto Avenue and from Alma Street to El Camino Real. This area provides many opportunities to connect residents to local services, regional transportation systems and to improve circulation for pedestrians, bicyclists and motor vehicles. This vision will capitalize on the significant proposed investments in future transportation infrastructure while ensuring the study area and its surrounding neighborhoods, districts, businesses, institutions and community assets are enhanced and improved. The heart of this effort is to facilitate, understand and clarify the community’s vision so it can be clearly articulated in a policy document which will thereby inform future decision-making.

The Task One Summary was prepared to summarize the results of the collaborative work completed up to September 2011. This document is available here and in the "Resources" section.

Third Draft Complete

The Third Draft of the Palo Alto Rail Corridor Study is available for download. The study is a report of the Task Force's work and discusses the vision for the study area. Click on the image below to download a pdf file. Previous drafts of the Palo Alto Rail Corridor Study can be found in the resources section of this website.

Tesla will unveil four Model S Betas and the Model X Design Prototype this weekend in San Jose, the Palo Alto-based electric car company announced Wednesday.

The signature colors for the Model S are Signature Red, Pearl White, Silver, and Black.

In an invitation to the public, Tesla previewed the busy work under way at their Fremont factory:

“The Signature paint lines are up and running! Our robots are hard at work painting more Betas and perfecting the process before production starts. Deliveries are just around the corner and we can't wait to share the excitement with you,” according to the invitation, which described the unveiling as "historic".

The unveiling follows the big announcement last month that the company's next car will be a sleek, futuristic crossover, the Model X, which will have gull wing doors.

This weekend’s event is at Tesla Santana Row, 333 Santana Row, Suite 1035, San Jose, CA 95128.

Fans can check out the cars Friday, March 16, from 4pm to 9pm, Saturday, March 17 from 10am to 9pm, and Sunday, March 18 from 11am to 7pm.

Four years after California voters passed a bond measure to help fund a high-speed rail system, many now feel let down because of skyrocketing costs— heightened by the state's fiscal crisis—and the Rail Authority's controversial draft business plan and estimates.

Dan Richard, chairman of the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CA-HSRA), said Tuesday, however, that "the governor told us the number will come down" from the current $98.1 billion.

The pricetag and other concerns–like the California High Speed Rail Authority's decision to begin construction in the Central Valley versus the "bookend" urban areas of San Francisco and Anaheim–were raised during a legislative hearing in Mountain View's Center for the Performing Arts hosted by the Senate Select Committee on High Speed Rail on Tuesday night.

"We are all supportive of high-speed rail, but it has to be high-speed rail done right, and decisions made against the best available evidence, use of money, and not based on political decisions," said State Senator Alan Lowenthal (D-Long Beach), co-chair of the committee with Joe Simitian (D-Palo Alto).

The high-speed rail project, which the CA-HSRA Draft Business Plan and Senate Select Committe estimates place the higher-end cost at $118 billion, prompted many in the 600-seat auditorium to demand that Proposition 1A be placed on the ballot again. Proposition 1A, which voters passed in 2008, raised $10 billion in bond financing for high-speed rail. Some voters expressed regret for voting for the proposition, based on recent developments.

"I wouldn't have voted for it knowing what I know now," said one attendee.

Richard and Board Member Jim Harnett carefully answered questions fired off to them by Simitian and Lowenthal. Their determination and commitment to the project remained resolute.

"No regional transportation plan is predicated on knowing where all the money is coming from at this stage," Richard said. "I can't look you in the eye and say that we have any greater clarity about the funding today but we'll have a more rational basis [in the future]."

He also added that "the ultimate rider projections show there will be enough riders so that they won't need a public subsidy."

This was rebutted in public comments by residents concerned about the validity of those projections.

Richard told Mountain View Patch at the conclusion of the six hour meeting that the CA-HSRA would "absolutely" be interested in private sector money.

"There is a lot of private sector interest, but we have to get it built first," he said, adding that they want to be conservative about how much they could get. He said around $20 billion. "The private sector would need to see the ridership figures first."

Under continuous consideration is the $760 million high-speed rail funds that could go toward the electrification of Caltrain, but that remain contingent–because of the language of Prop 1A–on the construction of the entire system.

Assemblyman Jerry Hill, in attendance, had held a press conference in San Mateo earlier that day to encourage residents to support electrification for the commuter rail.

Also, the potential loss of the $2.5 billion in federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds that must be committed to the high-speed rail project by Sept. 30, 2012 in order to be allocated.

William Kempton, chairman of the HSR Peer Review Group, and Legislative Analyst's Office staff Farra Bracht and Brian Weatherford, also raised concerns about the analysis of the CA-HSRA.

There was a mixed bag of opinions during the public comments, which began first with statements from elected officials. Mountain View Councilwoman Ronit Bryant attended the meeting, however no elected member of Mountain View spoke on the record about the project.

The strongest opposition continued to come from Palo Altans and residents of San Mateo County.

Palo Alto Mayor Yiaway Yeh asked the State to eliminate the project. Atherton City Councilman Jerry Carlson said that "nothing I've heard tonight changes our mind," and that the funds should be used for other projects. He and Palo Alto Councilman Patrick Burke called for the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) to stop dictating what happens in the Peninsula.

Burlingame Councilwoman Terry Nagel said that "we are not against it if it's done right," but to be done right the CA-HSRA needs to listen to all cities affected along the Caltrain corridor. One of her constituents, Karen Perry, express her fear of losing her home.

Almost all speakers acknowledged and called this new board more "amenable" than the last.

Parties in favor of the project included the labor unions, the mayors of San Francisco and San Jose, and San Francisco Airport Director John Martin.

Cupertino Councilman Barry Chang, and others, spoke to the environmental benefits of getting people out of their cars because "we can't rely on fossil fuels." The potential reduction of vehicular deaths and the duty of goverment to enhance safety were also raised.

William Sandie of Los Altos, among others, hoped to see a French-style or Japanese-style high-speed rail system. He believed it a good idea to start to build in the Central Valley. The Central Valley portion, called by several the "train to nowhere" is part of the CA-HSR's "Initial Construction Segment" and has $6 billion dollars apportioned for it.

"Should we not have built I-5 because not enough people live between Sacramento and Los Angeles?" he said. "We didn't know then where the funds would come from."

But if the project does move forward, all begged the state senatoros to hold the Authority to greater standard. They want not only more transparency, but a solid business plan.

The Authority, however, is also aware of their limitations.

"We made an effort to show voters what it would cost over 20 years," Richard said. "Frankly, the voters also provided that the legislature would make the final call. It's built into the law."

A final 2012 Business Plan is expected to be released late March 2012.