State adds $100 million to Stockton project easing rail travel for Modesto and beyond
The state has kicked in $100 million for a Stockton rail project that would ease freight and passenger service in nearby counties.
Funding now stands at $145 million for the $237 million project, planned for the state’s most congested railroad junction. Backers say it would ease the movement of goods to market and enhance service on Amtrak and the Altamont Corridor Express.
The California Transportation Commission approved the grant Thursday. The money comes from the fuel tax increase paid by drivers since 2017.
The planners aim for a 2026 completion of the project, which includes an overpass and related upgrades in south Stockton. They hope to get the remaining $92 million from the fuel tax.
The site is called the Stockton Diamond, where north-south tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad cross an east-west route of the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. About 60 to 90 trains pass through each day, most of them bearing freight for local or wider markets.
“The CTC’s investment in this project is a ringing endorsement to the important role rail plays in expanding the reach of Central Valley industry to the rest of the nation,” said Adrian Guerrero, general director of public affairs for UP in California and the Pacific Northwest.
His comment was in a news release from the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission, the lead agency on the project. It is undergoing study on the environmental impacts and could get approval from the panel next summer. Detailed design and right-of-way purchase could take until 2023, followed by three years of construction.
Passenger service is expanding
Amtrak San Joaquin trains use the BNSF tracks for four round trips a day between Oakland and Bakersfield, with stops in Modesto and 12 other cities. This line has a branch to Sacramento on UP tracks, served by buses for now because of COVID-19 cutbacks.
The bottleneck also is on the route of the Altamont Corridor Express. It has two round trips between Stockton and San Jose on weekdays, down from four before the pandemic. ACE is expanding to Stanislaus County, with the first train as soon as 2022, and also to Merced and Sacramento counties.
The overpass would be built five blocks south of Highway 4 in downtown Stockton, in a low-income neighborhood beset by heavy rail traffic. The project includes upgrading 10 ground-level crossings for the benefit of pedestrians, bicyclists and motorists. And a 15-block stretch of the north-south tracks would be rerouted onto a corridor just to the east.
Feds granted $20 million earlier
The $100 million came from the state’s Trade Corridor Enhancement Program, which aims to improve rail and roads for the movement of goods.
The project got a $20 million grant in September from the federal BUILD program, which stands for Better Utilizing Investments to Leverage Development. Earlier state funding includes about $4 million for the environmental study, $13.5 million for design and $7.3 million for right-of-way purchase.
“The San Joaquin Valley region plays an important role in California’s transportation system,” Caltrans Director Toks Omishakin said in the news release. “This critical project will help facilitate economic growth, reduce dependence on fuel, improve air quality in the region and reduce delays affecting freight and passenger rail.”
This story was originally published December 7, 2020 at 4:00 AM.
