*The future of a long-awaited rail crossing is murky as costs nearly double*
*Menlo Park faces $40 million funding gap for rail crossing without state,
federal help*
by *Arden Margulis *February
4, 2026 1:34 pmUpdated 38 minutes ago
fter the cost to build an underground pedestrian and bike crossing under
Caltrain tracks near Middle Avenue ballooned, Menlo Park officials are
struggling to figure out how to pay for it, or whether to continue the
project at all.
The project’s preliminary cost estimate of $23-35 million has jumped
to
more than $60 million. The city has spent $6.5 million so far, including $4
million to acquire land in the right-of-way near the proposed crossing.
Proposals for an underground crossing date back over 10 years to Menlo
Park’s El Camino Real and Downtown Specific Plan but the city didn’t make
significant progress until 2019
.
Almost $22.8 million in project funding has been secured from San Mateo and
Santa Clara counties, Stanford University (as part of the Middle Plaza
development agreement), the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC)
and the federal government. But much of that funding has an expiration date
and the city is facing an estimated shortfall between $38 million and $43
million.
At the Jan. 27 Menlo Park City Council meeting, council members were
presented with three options: prepare plans to get the project “shovel
ready” and work on securing grant funding, proceed with phasing the project
while additional funding is sought, or cancel it altogether.
Following the recommendation of Caltrain and city staffers, the council
decided to prepare the plans while seeking additional funding. City staff
said that once the plans are around 90% complete and the project is ready
to break ground, it could better compete for state and federal grants.
Currently, the plans are around 35% complete, city staff said.
Given current federal funding policies and state budget shortfalls, some
council members said they are not optimistic about the prospect of
additional funds.
“I’m worried about the feeling that the money will be there and it will be
freed up because I don’t feel like that’s the environment that we’re in
over the next few years,” Councilmember Jeff Schmidt said.
But there aren’t many other options. If the city chose to phase the
project, it would likely mean building a tunnel and leaving it closed,
potentially for years, before the project can be completed.
Mayor Betsy Nash said she sees the project as vital, given major new
developments projects on the horizon. She singled out Parkline
,
an approved mixed-use project at SRI International’s headquarters across
from Burgess Park.
“Parkline specifically has a lot of their development built around biking
in mind and this project specifically,” Nash said. “I think that this will
be heavily used and really worthwhile for all ages if we can get the
funding and get it through.
The city council directed staff to come back with a contract amendment to
spend an estimated $7.4 million to get the project to the 90% phase.
Unfortunately for the city, many of the funding sources it has now – from
Stanford, federal government and MTC — only cover construction costs and
they cannot be used to finish planning work.
The contract amendment is expected to come before the council within a few
weeks.
