After 38 years of planning, San Francisco has settled on a site for a future Caltrain station in the Bayview: Oakdale Avenue. The choice comes out of a San Francisco County Transportation Authority study completed this year, and it would give the neighborhood its first Caltrain stop since the Paul Avenue station closed in 2005 because of low ridership and its isolated location.
The study compared two sites about half a mile apart, one at Oakdale Avenue and one at Evans Avenue. Oakdale scored higher on projected ridership, climate resiliency, access, and deliverability, according to the agency. Evans Avenue borders Islais Creek and faces future sea level rise, and the agency found it would cost about $120 million more to build there.
Maraming taon pa ang kailangan
A station at Oakdale is a long way from opening. Andrew Heidel, a planner for the Transportation Authority, said at a meeting on Monday na maaaring sampung taon pa bago magsimula ang construction ng station. The project needs at least $27 million in state and federal funding to reach its next phase. The full cost was estimated at $100 million to $200 million in 2022, and the agency says estimates have risen since then.
The Transportation Authority Board, which is made up of the 11 members of the Board of Supervisors, is expected to vote on the study and the Oakdale choice in October.
Bakit matagal ang proseso
San Francisco has been planning a Bayview station since 1988 and has sponsored five studies in that time. A 2022 study already recommended Oakdale, but the board, led by Supervisor Shamann Walton, directed the agency to study Evans Avenue as well. Evans had become a neighborhood hub after the Southeast Community Center moved there in 2022, with the Bayview Plaza shopping center across the street. Walton now says he will likely support Oakdale, calling it less expensive and more central.
The Oakdale site sits next to the City College of San Francisco Southeast Campus, and the T Third Muni Metro line already runs along Third Street nearby. It is part of a wider set of Bay Area transit changes reshaping how people move through the region.
Ang mga detalye ay mula sa Bayview Caltrain Location Study ng San Francisco County Transportation Authority. Ang desisyon ng ahensya ay iniulat ng Mission Local.
Photo: Pi.1415926535, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
