Procedural Background - California

?ALJ/TJG/avsPROPOSED DECISIONAgenda ID #18321 (Rev. 1)Ratesetting5/28/20 Item 8Decision PROPOSED DECISION OF ALJ GLEGOLA (Mailed 4/10/2020)BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIAApplication of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority for an order authorizing construction of two grade-separatedlight rail tracks, and alteration of two atgrade commuter rail tracks and up to one freight track, at two (2) highway-rail crossings at (1) at Indian Hill Boulevard, and (2) Towne Avenue in the Cities of Claremont and Pomona in Los Angeles County.Application 18-04-021decision granting THE APPLICATION OF THE mETROLINE GOLD LINE FOOTHILL EXTENSION authority to CONSTRUCT AND ALTER Commuter and light rail TRACKS and HIGHWAY RAIL CROSSINGS In the cities of claremont and POMONA IN LOS ANGELES COUNTYSummaryThis decision grants the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority permission to construct two grade-separated light rail tracks at two existing at-grade highway rail crossings in Los?Angeles County, one at Indian Hill Boulevard in the City of Claremont, and one at Towne Avenue in the City of Pomona. The decision also approves other alterations at these crossings. The authority granted in this decision is valid for a period of five?years from the date this decision is issued. No parties oppose this application. The proceeding is closed.Procedural BackgroundOn April 20, 2018, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, on behalf of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA), filed an application with the Commission, requesting authorization to construct two grade-separated light rail tracks and make other alterations in the Cities of Claremont and Pomona, both of which are in Los?Angeles County.On May 29, 2018, Safety and Enforcement Division (SED) staff filed and served a response to the application. The Southern California Regional Railway Authority (SCRRA) was granted party status on July 16, 2018.A prehearing conference was held on July 3, 2018 to outline the relevant issues in this proceeding and to develop a proposed schedule. The assigned Commissioner issued a Scoping Memorandum and Ruling on July 31, 2018.Description of Proposed Construction and AlterationsAs noted above, the applicant requests authorization to construct two grade-separated light rail tracks and make other alterations at rail crossings in the Cities of Claremont and Pomona.The crossing at Indian Hill Boulevard in Claremont includes two at-grade commuter rail tracks. The applicant requests authorization to make several alterations to the existing crossing. The existing SCRRA commuter rail and freight rail tracks will be shifted to the south of the rightofway to allow room for a light rail bridge on the north side. The highway-rail and pedestrian crossings will incorporate the standard highway-rail safety equipment, including traffic gates, raised medians, pedestrian gates, signage and striping. Additionally, the existing two-lane Santa Fe Street roadway just south of the crossing will be closed west of Indian Hill Boulevard. On the east of Indian Hill Boulevard, Santa Fe Street will be reduced to a one-way road, providing northbound motorists a right turn only entrance. Railing and bollards will be provided to protect the south crossing equipment from motorists making right turns onto Santa Fe Street.The Towne Avenue crossing in Pomona includes two at-grade commuter rail tracks, and one at-grade freight rail track. Alterations to the highway-rail at-grade crossing include constructing a new grade separation for two new light rail tracks and additional highway-rail and pedestrian crossing safety equipment for the two at-grade SCRRA commuter rail tracks and one atgrade freight rail track. The light rail grade separation will be a minimum of 24-feet over the freight rail track, and will be located over both Towne Avenue and the single freight rail track so the freight rail track can be shifted from north of the right-of-way to the south. The crossing also will incorporate the standard highway-rail safety equipment including traffic gates, raised medians, pedestrian gates, signage and striping. The existing SCRRA crossing will be upgraded with pedestrian crossing treatments. The initial placement of the light rail grade separation structure and freight rail at-grade crossing equipment has been evaluated for line of sight visibility. The applicant indicates that the final location of the bridge structure and crossing equipment will be determined with the design-build contractor during final design.Applicant requests a five-year authorization period to complete the work summarized above. In its motion for party status, SCRRA indicates its support for this application, but requests that the Commission incorporate several items into a decision approving the application, including that:signage, striping, devices, and signals comply with Commission standards in the California MUTCD and/or SCRRA standards;the pre-signal for Indian Hill Boulevard be designed and operated to prevent queuing on the tracks. To ensure this, SCRRA requests:on the traffic signal timing sheets, the Track Clearance Phases and Limited Service Phases as shown be revised to be consistent with each other;that Pole G has programmed visibility heads; andthe westbound “No Left Turn” R3-1 sign be consistent with the existing Phase 8 left turn permissive phasing as shown in the application.the southbound railroad warning device flashers for the Indian Hill Boulevard crossing are visible to southbound motorists from a distance that meets the minimum stopping sight distance per SCRRA and Caltrans standards; andthe Towne Avenue crossing modification include signing and striping design and other actions to ensure that vehicles do not queue onto the tracks, either by creating room for left turns or restricting left turns.JurisdictionUnder § 1202 of the Public Utilities Code (Pub. Util. Code), the Commission has exclusive jurisdiction “to determine and prescribe the manner, including the particular point of crossing, and the terms of installation, operation, maintenance, use, and protection of each crossing of one railroad by another railroad or street railroad, of a street railroad by a railroad, of each crossing of a public or publicly used road or highway by a railroad or street railroad, and of a street by a railroad or of a railroad by a street.”Issues before the CommissionThe issues before the Commission in this proceeding are:Whether the application meets all of the Commission’s requirements, including Rule 3.11 and General Order (GO)?143-B;Whether the Commission considers the applicant’s Final Environmental Impact Report in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA);Whether the application poses any significant and unresolved safety issues; andWhether the Commission should grant the applicant a period of five years from the application approval date to complete the proposed projects.DiscussionSED staff conducted site visits of the proposed crossing locations on April?27, 2017, January 11, 2018, and February 21, 2018. SED staff found no safety issues during the onsite inspection. In its response, filed on September?7,?2018, SED staff concluded that the application complies with all requirements of the Commission’s Rules and General Orders, including all applicable safety requirements. Consistent with GO 164-D § 10.2, the applicant consulted with SED staff prior to initiating preliminary engineering. The application complies with GO?26-D § 3.2, as all posts, pipes, warning signs and similar obstructions will be a minimum of twelve feet from the centerline of the freight rail and commuter rail tracks. The application also complies with the minimum clearance requirements for light rail tracks in GO 143-B. Both the roadway width at the crossings and the crossing surfaces comply with GO 72-B. All warning devices comply with GO 75-D § 4. The applicant requests authorization period of five years to complete construction of the crossing. Although a five-year authorization period is not the time frame typically recommended for most crossings, SED staff found it to be appropriate in this case due to the extensive work required to complete both this specific crossing and the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Project as a whole. SED does not expect a five-year authorization time-period to impact safety.The application is uncontested and meets each of the criteria for review(CEQA will be discussed in Section 5, below). Based on that, we approve this application and the five-year authorization. Regarding the issues raised by SCRRA, there is no evidentiary record to substantiate if one approach to solving traffic challenges created by this project is preferable to another, or even if this project may lead to vehicles queuing on any tracks. However, the application already addresses many of the concerns raised and requests made by SCRRA regarding the use of compliant signage, and Ordering Paragraph 5 of this decision requires the applicant to provide a copy of complete design drawings to the SCRRA for its review to ensure conformance with its applicable standards. We therefore encourage continued consultation between both parties to make every effort to prevent vehicles from queuing on any tracks. Compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)The construction activities contained in this application, as a subcomponent of the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension, constitute a project under the California Environmental Act of 1970 (as amended, Public Resources Code secs. 21000, et seq.). CEQA applies to discretionary projects to be carried out or approved by public agencies. A basic purpose of CEQA is to inform decision makers and the public about potential significant environmental effects. Under CEQA, the lead agency is either the public agency that carries out the project or the one with the greatest responsibility for supervising or approving the project. The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority is the project proponent. The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, acting for and on behalf of Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, is requesting authority to construct two at-grade highway-rail crossings as part of the Los Angeles-Pasadena Foothill Extension Gold Line light rail project. As part of the application, the Authority is submitting a Final Environmental Impact Report (FEIR). (State Clearinghouse Number: 2010121069.) The study area was from the Azusa Station to the Montclair Station within which these proposed crossings are to be located. Since the project includes rail crossings, the CPUC is a responsible agency under CEQA. As a responsible agency, the Commission must consider the environmental effects identified in the portion of the project that is before the Commission for approval. The Commission has the authority to mitigate or avoid only the direct and indirect environmental effects of those parts of the project which it is called on to carry out or approve. The Commission must approve any mitigations measures within the Commission’s jurisdiction that avoid or mitigate the parts of the project the Commission approves, unless the changes or alterations are infeasible for specific economic, legal, social, technical and other benefits. The Commission must file a Notice of Determination (NOD) with the State Clearinghouse certifying that the Commission has considered the environmental document. The FEIR for the project, The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension-Azusa to Montclair, considered numerous categories of possible impacts. These included: air quality; biological resources/ecosystems; climate change; communities, population and housing; community facilities and parklands; cultural resources; energy; geologic hazards; hazardous waste and materials; land use and planning; noise and vibration; safety and security; visual quality; water resources; and growth inducing impacts. When an impact was found to exceed the accepted level of significance a mitigation measure was designed to eliminate the impact or keep the impact below the level of significance. With the implementation of mitigations all impacts at the crossings could be kept below the level of significance. The Commission has reviewed and considered the FEIR as it related to the proposed rail crossings. We find that the FEIR as it relates to the rail crossing is adequate for our decision-making purposes. The Commission’s Energy Division will file a NOD with the State Clearinghouse stating the Commission considered the environmental document related to the proposed rail ments on Proposed DecisionThe proposed decision of ALJ Glegola in this matter was mailed to the parties in accordance with Section 311 of the Public Utilities Code and comments were allowed under Rule 14.3 of the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure. Comments were filed by the Rail Safety Division on April 27, 2020, and reply comments by Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority were filed on May 1, 2020. In response to these comments, the decision is revised at pages 1 and 3 to more accurately describe the existing configurations of the two crossings and the proposed modifications at each crossing. Assignment of ProceedingLiane M. Randolph is the assigned Commissioner and Thomas J. Glegola is the assigned Administrative Law Judge in this proceeding.Findings of FactOn April 20, 2018, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, on behalf of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, filed an application with the Commission, requesting authorization to construct two grade-separated light rail tracks and alter two at-grade commuter rail tracks and up to one freight track at two highway-rail crossings at Indian Hill Boulevard in the City of Claremont, and Towne Avenue in the City of Pomona, both of which are in Los Angeles County.The application is not contested.The applicant consulted with the Commission’s Safety and Enforcement Division staff prior to initiating preliminary engineering.The Commission’s Safety and Enforcement Division reviewed the application, conducted site visits and filed a response to the application.Conclusions of LawThe instant application complies with the Public Utilities Code, the Commission’s General Orders and Rules of Practice and Procedure and should be granted.The requested five-year authorization is appropriate for this application.FEIR adopted by the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority, as required by CEQA, is adequate for our decision-making purposes.No parties contested the application, making an evidentiary hearing unnecessary.The application should be granted.The proceeding should be closed.ORDERIT IS ORDERED that:The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority is authorized to construct two new grade-separated light-rail tracks, and alter two at-grade commuter rail tracks and one at-grade freight rail track at two existing at-grade highway-rail crossings in the Cities of Claremont and Pomona in Los?Angeles County, California.The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority shall ensure that the authorized crossings are constructed in the authorized configurations described and specified in the application and its attachments. The crossings shall be identified by the following California Public Utilities Commission and United States Department of Transportation (DOT) Crossing Numbers:Crossing NameCityCPUC NumberDOT NumberIndian Hill BlvdClaremont84P-35.96-B (LRT)101SG-32.91 (SCRTA/FRT)026180ATowne AvenuePomona84P-34.96-BT (LRT)101PA-105.90 (FRT)101SG-31.91 (SCRRA)026184C747336MThe Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority shall comply with all applicable laws and rules, including Commission General Orders, California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority shall have its design-build contractor provide a compliance filing of 100 percent design level drawings for the crossings to the California Public Utilities Commission’s Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch of the Rail Safety Division no later than 60 days prior to commencing construction. The compliance filing will serve todemonstrate conformance with the crossing designs approved in this Order.The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority shall have its design-build contractor concurrently provide a copy of the same compliance filing of 100 percent design level drawings for the crossings to the Southern California Regional Rail Authority and Cities of Pomona and La Verne. Southern California Regional Rail Authority and Cities of Claremont and Pomona shall review the compliance filing for conformance with their applicable standards.The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority shall notify the California Public Utilities Commission’s Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch of the Rail Safety Division at least 30 days prior to the opening of the public at-grade highway-rail crossing. Notification should be made by e-mail to rceb@cpuc..Within 30 days after completion of the work authorized by this Decision, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority shall notify the California Public Utilities Commission’s Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch of the Rail Safety Division that the authorized work is completed by submitting a California Public Utilities Commission Standard Form G, Report of Changes at Highway Grade Crossing and Separations. Form G requirements and forms can be obtained at the California Public Utilities Commission web site Form G page at cpuc.crossings. The completed report must be submitted via email to rceb@cpuc..Within 30 days after completion of the work under this order, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority shall notify the Federal Railroad Administration of the existence of the public at-grade highway-rail crossing by submitting United States Department of Transportation CROSSING INVENTORY, form FRA F6180.71 for the at-grade highway-rail crossing. Concurrently, the Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority shall provide a copy of the inventory forms to the California Public Utilities Commission’s Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch of the Rail Safety Division. The copies of the form may be submitted electronically to rceb@cpuc.ca,gov.The Metro Gold Line Foothill Extension Construction Authority and Southern California Regional Rail Authority shall ensure that Emergency Notification Systems signs are installed at the crossings to comply with CFR 234.309.This authorization shall expire if not exercised within five years of the issuance this decision unless time is extended or if the above conditions are not satisfied. Authorization may be revoked or modified if public convenience, necessity or safety so require.A request for extension of the five-year authorization shall be submitted to the California Public Utilities Commission’s Rail Crossings and Engineering Branch of the Rail Safety Division at least 30 days before the expiration of that period. A copy of the extension request shall be sent to all interested parties.Application 18-04-021 is closed.This order is effective today.Dated ,, at San Francisco, California. ................
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