The National Park Service and Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy made improvements to the Presidio Coastal Trail corridor south of the Golden Gate Bridge, including the construction of a bicycle/pedestrian bridge which connects the trail to Merchant Road.

This project is part of a comprehensive trail improvement program.

The demolition of Old Town Area Buildings 25A, 40, 41, 44, 44A, 44B, 52 and 52A made way for the Solar Energy Research Center (SERC) and a General Purpose Laboratory (GPL). A phased plan has been developed to abate and demolish the remaining buildings within the Old Town area, namely Buildings 4, 5, 7, 7C, 14, 16 and 16A. Soil removal will be performed to address existing subsurface contamination. The demolition of the subject buildings is part of an overall plan to remediate and redevelop the Old Town area of the Lab.

Critical Decision 1 (CD-1, Selection of Alternatives) for the project was approved in October 2013. The project was divided into three phases with each phase addressing structure demolition, removal of contaminated soils associated with the structures, and stabilization of the affected areas. Phase I includes Buildings 5, 16, and 16A and the slabs of previously demolished Buildings 40, 41, 52, and 52A; Phase II includes Buildings 4 and 14; Phase III includes Buildings 7 and 7C. Planning for Phase I has been completed, and CD-2/3 (Approve Performance Baseline and Approve Start of Construction/Execution) for Phase I was approved in November 2014. Planning for Phase II has begun. The demolition and soil remediation of Buildings 4, 7, 7C, and 14 is deferred until further funding is available. Project schedule is dependent upon receipt of funding.

Overview:

Currently, SR 89 crosses under the Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) through a narrow 25-foot wide concrete arch structure that was built in 1928. Caltrans has determined that the bridge structure is functionally obsolete due to its lack of pedestrian, bicycle, and traffic facilities, as follows:

• Pedestrians wishing to cross the railroad are required to use the tunnel, which does not contain pedestrian facilities or refuge. Therefore, pedestrians are required to walk in travel lanes with vehicular traffic. In addition, because there are no shoulders, no bicycle facilities are available.
• The lack of adequate shoulders through the facility also degrades vehicle safety through the tunnel as no recovery area is provided for vehicles that inadvertently travel outside travel lanes.
• Traffic currently “bottlenecks” at the underpass during periods of peak use – resulting in congestion. This adversely impacts local, regional, and interregional traffic, increases response times of emergency service providers, and constrains access for pedestrians and bicyclists. In addition, alternative routes for motorists are limited.

Proposed Project:

In order to address the most immediate concern (pedestrian and bicycle mobility and safety), the Town of Truckee and Caltrans are working on the design of a pedestrian/bicycle tunnel and associated trail connections to Deerfield Drive and potentially West River Street east of the existing Mousehole.