As the electrification of Caltrain nears completion, bringing more frequent trains, the lowering of Rengstorff Avenue to pass under the tracks became more urgent.
The long-planned project is expected to begin work in 2026, and be completed in about two years. The project is headed by Caltrain, but other government and transportation agencies are involved. The City of Mountain View drafted its “shovel ready” plan in 2014. The environmental study has been completed. Illustrations of the project are on pages 5 through 13 here with a May 2023 update here.
Other relevant websites are the Caltrain site, and two Mountain View Voice articles, January 24, 2024, and February 14, 2014.
In March 2024, one of the companies bidding to oversee the project contacted our neighborhood, seeking input from the neighborhoods most affected. Three neighbors, including an MLNA board member, volunteered to represent Monta Loma. They raised these questions during an online discussion with representatives of the company:
- Traffic: How will vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians be impacted during deconstruction and new construction? How will traffic be restricted from driving through Monta Loma to escape the construction?
- Neighborhood entry and exit: How will residents get into and out of the neighborhood? Will there be additional traffic lights?
- Safety: How will the fire station on Rengstorff at Montecito be able to function? The MVPD? What about access to schools?
- Businesses and business access: Which businesses will remain at the corner of Rengstorff and Central after the Shell gas station has left? Can customers reach them?
- Artesian well: Might this city well in the alley behind the shopping center, which was plugged in 2022-23, cause a problem?
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