The Caltrain board of directors voted to award a Construction Manager/General Contractor (CM/GC) contract for the Mountain View Transit Center Grade Separation and Access Project to Stacy & Witbeck Inc. and Myers & Sons Construction, a joint venture headquartered in Alameda, Calif.

The cost of the first phase, referred to as pre-construction services, is $1.49 million. The project is funded by the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority Measure B Program and the City of Mountain View.

The project will improve safety and multimodal access to the transit center and Downtown Mountain View. The project is focused on the Castro Street/Moffett Boulevard/Central Expressway intersection and will close the Castro Street crossing of the railroad tracks. A shared use pathway that allows pedestrians and cyclists to pass under the tracks and Central Expressway will offer safe and easy access to residents and office workers to Mountain View’s vibrant downtown.

The City of Mountain View identified this project as Phase I of the 2017 Transit Master Plan. Determinations will be made this year regarding the architectural design and public art that will be featured, with the Final Design scheduled to be completed in Summer 2024. Construction is expected to begin that summer, with a completion date in late 2026.

Caltrain Project Delivery

The contract award by the Caltrain board follows an earlier action to authorize the use of CM/GC for the project, as opposed to conventional design-bid-build project delivery. There are advantages to the CM/GC delivery which engages the contractor earlier in the project.

The project is Caltrain’s first use of CM/GC project delivery and is a key strategy being deployed by Caltrain’s Design & Construction team in expanding the pallet of project delivery methods being utilized to increased schedule and cost certainty, particularly on large, complex projects.

Creating a grade separation at Castro Street so people and vehicles will no longer be required to cross the tracks will improve safety for pedestrians and bicyclists; reduce train gate down-time and horn noise; reduce conflicts between trains, vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists; and improve traffic flow.