Quote:
Originally Posted by dl3000
Just curious. This probably sounds like a ridiculous idea but I wonder if it ever came up, but what if they built a train at grade, and then put a sort of structure over the length of the track to mitigate for noise. Pile up some soil near it and do a little landscaping and it could be nice. Sure sight lines would be affected but it is less impact than aerials and its cheaper than tunnels or aerials, or am I missing the core complaint?
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The core complaint is "I don't want anything to change." At one of the meetings, one speaker in the crowd actually came out and said, "I've only got 15-20 years left. I don't want to deal with construction in my city for 20% of my remaining life."
The ROW is wide enough for four tracks with almost no eminent domain needed (something like 98% of the route would require NONE). If you built earthen barriers on either side, eminent domain would be needed, as it would probably double the width of the ROW - keep in mind for most of the route Caltrain runs right next to 6-8 lane El Camino Real, and often another busy, wide road on the other side, so you'd be talking about rebuilding roads too.
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