Potential Benefits
Urban Planning is a technical and political process focusing on development, land use, and the environment. It includes air, water, infrastructure, transportation, communication, and environmental protection. Transportation planning looks at the future needs of communities and the best ways to transport people and goods. The primary goal of environmental planning is to create sustainable communities and to help protect undeveloped land (Beatly, 1995). Environmental planning involves land use, transportation, economics, housing, air pollution, wetlands, endangered species and habitats, sea level rise, flood zones, and erosion. It also involves Environmental Assessments (EIR/EIS). An Environmental Impact Report is a state-level review conducted under CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act). In contrast, an Environmental Impact Statement is a federal-level environmental review triggered by the National Environmental Policy Act (Pinkerton, 1985). This environmental planning process is necessary because it aims to make the San Francisco Bay more sustainable while helping protect the San Francisco Bay Estuary, a significant carbon sink and one of the largest estuaries along the Pacific Coast (Takekawa, 2006).
Wetlands are highly productive ecosystems associated with our society's environmental, social, and economic well-being. It is estimated that the annual value of global wetlands is approximately 4.8 billion dollars (Takekawa, 2006). Not only do wetlands provide habitat for animal species, but they also provide a livelihood, food source, and recreational areas for the people living there. The San Francisco Bay Estuary provides jobs such as fishing, crabbing, salt harvesting, boat operations, and salt point restoration (South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project). It is estimated that wetlands only make up 3 percent of the land surface in the western hemisphere, so it is crucial to protect them. The San Francisco Bay Estuary is the largest estuary on the west coast of the United States and drains approximately 40 percent of the waters in California. Only 21 percent of the estuary is estimated to remain, while over 90 percent of the San Francisco Bay Estuary has already been destroyed (Takekawa, 2006). The remaining marshland has been fragmented due to roads, railroads, levees, and urban development.
Sea level rise is also a significant threat to the Dumbarton Project and the surrounding wetlands that comprise the northern portion of Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge. The San Francisco Bay could see a 30 to 90-centimeter rise in sea level by the end of the 21st century (Priestley, 2021). Short-term effects include higher-than-normal tides, severe storm surges, and even )flooding of the tidal marshlands along the Dumbarton Rail Corridor (Priestly, 2021). Human activity has altered the marsh's capacity to handle sea level rise, so more catastrophic results from these short-term impacts will be likely. The marshlands and salt marshes will face increased degradation and damage, putting the endangered species that rely on them at further risk. The salt marshes and cord grasses are critical habitats for endemic and endangered species such as the Salt Pond Harvest Mouse and the California Clapper Rail (Swanson, 2014). The Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, on the endangered species list since 1970, only lives in the salt marshes of San Francisco Bay (Smith, 2018). The California Clapper (Ridgeway's Raill) is on the near-threatened list and shares the same salt marsh habitats as the mouse and Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse. The Clapper Rail heavily relies on the cord grasses, providing them shade, food, and protection from predators, and throwing off this balance could result in their endangerment and extinction. Saltwater intrusion from sea level rise will increase salinity, significantly altering their habitats. Globally, the sea level has risen approximately 20 centimeters due to ice loss in Greenland and Antarctica since the 1900s (Ruckert 2017). Over 1 billion people worldwide are at risk of sea level rise and coastal flooding. SamTrans must consider these issues as they move forward with the Dumbarton Project.
Rising sea levels and coastal flooding can also negatively impact human life. Roads will become impassible, rail lines will be inoperable, agricultural lands will be destroyed, and basic infrastructure like water treatment plants will be unusable (Ruckert 2017). Specific effects and mitigations will be revealed when the Environmental Impact Assessments are completed. The permitting and Environmental Assessment phases help to ensure that we protect the environment as much as possible. Environmental laws like CEQA and NEPA provide hurdles that the developers and lead agencies need to overcome. Almost every large development project in California requires some CEQA review, and the Dumbarton Corridor project is no exception. However, the review processes have not started yet, as SamTrans is in a re-evaluation phase. If the project moves forward, an EIA will be conducted to determine the exact environmental impacts and suggested mitigation actions. Mitigation actions will be essential to reduce potential harm to the salt marsh habitats and cord grasses that endemic animal call home.
Transportation Planning involves identifying and improving mobility for the community and the movement of people and goods from one destination to another. It is a collaborative process involving numerous local, state, and federal stakeholders, including government agencies, the public, and various businesses that the chamber of commerce could represent. Transportation planners design and assess transportation methods such as roadways and public transportation (railroads, bus routes, and bike lanes). The Dumbarton Rail Corridor fits this category neatly, involving multiple stakeholders, government agencies, state agencies, and grass-root organizations trying to bring new regional rail connections to the San Francisco Bay Area.
It is not enough to simply build the rail corridor; more work needs to go into expanding access to these transit stations from the surrounding communities and finding more ways to move people throughout the region quicker. Connecting Redwood City's Caltrain Station to Fremont and Newark would give people in the East Bay a more direct connection to the Peninsula. If Caltrain can get trackage rights to Hayward, then Caltrain could enhance this connection by connecting to BART, Altamont Commuter Express, and Amtrak. Providing more regional links and expanded transit options would help to reduce traffic congestion. Reducing traffic congestion can, in turn, reduce air pollution, the time we sit in traffic, and even reduce the number of vehicle collisions (Wang, 2015).
Since the 1940s, American society has been built around making private automobile mobility more accessible. However, the increase in the use of cars and the limits of road capacity means that traffic congestion has sharply increased. If traffic congestion is not mitigated, there will be an increase in air pollution, traffic jams, and fuel consumption. Major cities in China, for example, have seen persistent hazes that can last for days, caused by air pollution and traffic jams lasting for days (Wang, 2015). While not on this scale (or even the Carmageddon scale in Los Angeles), high traffic levels can be experienced in the Bay Area. The only way to combat this is to encourage alternative forms of transportation, like rail and bike riding.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition is trying to promote bike use by advocating for a recreational bike trail to be built in conjunction with the future Dumbarton Bridge. The bike path would connect Fremont and Newark to Menlo Park and Redwood City, including watering stations, rest stops, and secure bike storage. However, each city and county will need more to expand safe streets and bike programs. If bike riding is to become a more accepted mobility method, then each city needs to make it more accessible and desirable.
Studies have shown that cities with higher rates of bike usage attribute it to having better bike infrastructure and bike programs. In contrast, cities with low bike rates have not invested as much in bike programs and related infrastructure (Frank, 2019).
Encouraging more and more people to make the change from cars to bike riding, walking, or other forms of other nonmotorized transport can lead to several improvements:
1. Health Improvements
2. Air Pollution Reduction
3. Carbon Emission Reductions
4. Traffic Congestion reduction
5. Vehicle collision reduction
Using cars to get around while making travel more convenient has led to a sedentary lifestyle Pucher, 2009). Our cities have been developed around using cars and making travel easy, even though bike riding is healthy for us. Changes in transit access have a relationship to physical activity and obesity levels, with obesity rates rising sharply over the last 50 years. Obesity often leads to other medical problems, such as diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer, asthma, and depression (Pucher, 2009). Three-fourths of Americans are estimated to be overweight, leading to increasing healthcare costs. However, obesity can quickly be dealt with by changing our lifestyles. Regular physical activity, such as riding a bike or a scooter, or walking to a train station, can help reduce health risks and obesity.
Health impacts can also come from breathing particulate matter from air pollution. Long-term exposure to greenhouse gas pollution can lead to respiratory diseases, cardiovascular disease, damage to the central nervous system, reproductive issues, cancer, poisoning, blood issues, asthma, and even chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (Manisalidis, 2020). Particulate matter can also get into the food we eat and the water we drink. Much of the greenhouse gases we breathe in are released on a large scale through industrial operations, oil refinement, vehicle use, and forest fires. In New York City, it is estimated that 260 people die yearly or have extended emergency room visits due to illnesses caused by exposure to particulate matter (pollution). One hundred seventy deaths per year are related to car, bus, and particulate truck emissions (Kheirbek, 2018)
Not only does greenhouse gas emission and pollution affect our health, but they can also negatively affect the environment. Acid rain contains high levels of nitric and sulfuric acids and can damage buildings and kill plants, animals, and people. As mentioned, a greyish haze can often be seen over large cities, resulting in smog and other greenhouse gas emissions settling in the lower atmosphere and making the air harmful. The cumulative effect is global climate change caused by pollution and other greenhouse gas emissions trapping sunlight. Usually, the sunlight reflects off the earth's surface and back into space. Particulate matter from pollution interrupts this process by reflecting the sunlight toward the earth's surface and heating the atmosphere. Global warming causes many other climate and health impacts, such as more prolonged droughts, more severe storms heat strokes, storm-related deaths, and deaths caused by longer and more intense wildfire seasons (Manisalidis, 2020). One example is the devastating Camp Fire, which erupted on Nov 8, 2018, due to PG&E transmission line issues. As a result of high winds and drought, the Camp Fire burned so hot and fast that it killed 85 people and destroyed most of the town of Paradise, California, by Nov 10, 2018 (Skiba, 2023).
Rebuilding the Dumbarton Corridor will help to mitigate some of these effects by reducing the number of cars on the road if the transit stations are easily accessible without the need for a car. Improving public transportation and expanding access to public transit will mitigate traffic congestion (Verbavatz, 2019). This will help lower death rates, reduce traffic levels, lower greenhouse gas emissions, and improve our overall quality of life. However, to accomplish this, multiple dedicated funding sources will be needed. The Dumbarton Corridor has come close to being fully funded several times since SamTrans bought the rail line, but almost all of the funding was eventually stripped or pulled from the project. The first time around, BART had significant funding issues (their San Francisco Airport extension did not generate the expected revenues that were supposed to fund the Warm Springs Extension) with their Warm Springs Extension and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission decided to transfer the Dumbarton Funds to BART. As a result of losing this funding, the Dumbarton Project was set back by decades. As a result of losing this funding, the Dumbarton Project was set back by decades. Then, in 2016 Facebook decided to get involved in the Dumbarton Project and offered up to one billion dollars for the assessment and construction phases. Facebook was highly interested in the project because its headquarters, both the old buildings and the newer ones they constructed, sits adjacent to the rail line. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic caused a shelter-in-place emergency order, resulting in most people working from home. As a result, Facebook decided it no longer wanted or needed to be involved in the Dumbarton Project. This resulted in most of the funding for the Dumbarton project being pulled, setting the project back a second time. Working from home helped to decrease vehicle traffic dramatically. Still, it also significantly affected transit ridership numbers, with Caltrain seeing a 91% drop in ridership and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency dipping by 70%.
At this point, the Dumbarton Project will likely cost over a billion dollars; this funding level is not something local municipalities can handle alone. Funding a project that costs billions of dollars will need state and federal help. The federal government has invested billions in Amtrak and even helped to subsidize the first transcontinental railroad. Without these large federal subsidies, the transcontinental railroad would likely not have been completed (Duran, 2013). Federal Involvement, especially in terms of financial help, would go a long way to helping get the Dumbarton Corridor off the ground.
It has been thirty years since the Dumbarton Corridor was purchased to rebuild it for passenger service. In that same 30 years, at least 20 other transit systems across the United States have gone from an idea to operational (Passenger Ridership Report). One example is Los Angeles MetroLink. Los Angeles had a small inter-city rail system in the 1970s, and in 1983 Caltrain (no relation to San Francisco Bay Area's Caltrain) started commuter service in Ventura County (Metrolink). Caltrain only lasted several months before service was terminated. In May of 1990, the California State Senate passed Senate Bill 1402 that directed Southern California to establish a transit authority by the end of 1990 called the Southern California Regional Rail Authority (SCRRA). Twelve years later, the California State Legislature would again authorize the creation of a transit district in Sonoma and Marin Counties. The SCRRA was formed in October 1990, and it purchased 175 miles of Southern Pacific's infrastructure for approximately 450 million dollars. Officially known as Metrolink, they operate seven rail lines and 67 stations and have 14,300 riders daily (Metrolink).
Another example is the Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit (SMART) system. The Northwestern Pacific Railroad built and operated a rail line from Marin County to Arcata, California. The Southern Pacific eventually bought them out and operated freight service until the mid-1950s. They sold this rail line in 1981, approximately ten years before they sold the Dumbarton Corridor. Sonoma and Marin Counties started rebuilding stations in the mid-1990s while they were waiting for the SMART district to be established (in 2002) by the California Legislature. SMART funding comes from federal, state, and regional taxes (Measure R in 2006, Measure Q in 2008) dedicated specifically to SMART and a portion of bridge fare. The district opted to build the project in phases as money became available, and they have plans to extend to Cloverdale.
The Dumbarton Corridor can be rebuilt but it will take a long time. It's not a question of "if" but when because Metrolink and SMART (along with 20 other transit systems) have shown it can be done. These are full-on complete regional transit systems, not one rail corridor. The only difference is that Dumbarton had its funding stripped twice while the other Transit Agencies did not. Had the funding not been stripped, it is highly likely; the Dumbarton Corridor would have been operational by now. Funding a billion-dollar infrastructure project will have to come from multiple sources: sales taxes, government loans, and even grants will be needed. Sales taxes are not guaranteed as they need voter support, which is not always easy to secure. The voters passed Measures R and Q, used to fund SMART, while the 2020 SMART Measure I failed (Swan, 2020).
Rail is vital to the United States economy, as it moves people and goods quickly around the country. A 2012 report showed that Amtrak ridership numbers jumped by 72% between the years 1995 to 2008, with 29 new light rail stations being built and over 20 different transit systems coming online. These numbers might have increased as this study is 13 years old (Weatherford, 2008). The Federal Government invested billions in locomotive cars, stations, rail infrastructure repair, and high-speed rail projects to help alleviate local municipalities' costs. Funding for rail projects is an ongoing issue because money is finite and is simultaneously needed for other critical infrastructure projects (Weatherford, 2020). Federal involvement is often necessary to move these transit projects along.
In the 20th century, the United States was the global leader in passenger service, passenger cars, rail technology, and speed. This started to change after World War II when America became a car-centric society; today, trains travel slower than they did one hundred years ago. America focused on the car, and Europe and Japan focused on the railroad. Japan's bullet train (between Osaka and Tokyo) opened in 1964, while Europe is connected by high-speed trains, like the TGV in France. Nowadays, major rail manufacturers are not even located in America: Alstrom is a French company, Siemens is a German Company, and Bombardier is a Canadian Company. Germany's approach was to tax crude oil and use some of that tax to fund investments in rail.
The Dumbarton Project will not be a quick or easy process, as several obstacles other than funding need to be overcome. Most stages and permits listed in Chapters 3 and 4 can be worked on simultaneously to speed up the process. For example, the notice of participation/intent could coincide with the technological review. Preliminary Engineering and Concept development was set to appear in the third and fourth quarters of 2019 (Appendix A, Timeline). Resource Agencies have recognized the need for ways to speed up the Permitting process, so they created the Joint Aquatic Resources Permit. JARPA allows Samtrans, or the lead agency, to quickly apply for multiple permits with multiple agencies by filing only one application. The Environmental Assessment phase is lengthy, but it is necessary to ensure the well-being, safety, and protection of the surrounding plants, environment, and animals. The Dumbarton will be a lengthy project, but it can be accomplished.
The Dumbarton Corridor (from Redwood City to Newark) would allow Caltrain to have more regional transit connections: Altamont Commuter Express and Amtrak in Fremont and BART in Fremont, Union City, or Hayward. However, SamTrans must negotiate with Union Pacific for trackage rights for passenger service from Fremont to Hayward. Connecting Redwood City, Newark, and Hayward would give people direct access to the Peninsula. People heading to the Peninsula must go through San Francisco (BART) or San Jose (Caltrain).
The Dumbarton Corridor project can be used in other methods, along with railroad service. The first method could be Transit Oriented Development. Stations could be built in Redwood City, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto, and Newark. The land surrounding these stations could be used as transit-oriented developments, encouraging people to travel without using cars.
The next step toward creating an equitable, regional transit system would be to promote bike riding or other modes of transportation to the rail stations. San Mateo, Santa Clara, and Alameda Counties, where Redwood City, Redwood City, Newark, and Fremont would need to invest in bike programs and new bike infrastructure, such as safe streets, separated bike lanes, and bike locations all over the cities. The Dumbarton Corridor is a project that can be and needs to be completed so cities and counties can start planning how best to use the corridor to benefit everyone. Twenty-eight other transit systems have proven this is an achievable goal; all it takes is multiple sources of funding that remain with the project.
