Union Pacific to Mayor: We're Building the Fence

Union Pacific sent an email to Mayor Joe Krovoza Wednesday saying that they will begin building the  near downtown next week. 

In fact, they’ve  already started to prepare the tracks. The 3,800 foot long fence will block the path between the Olive Drive neighborhood and downtown.

In addition, Union Pacific filed a protest against the City’s application to construct an at-grade crossing at the Depot. That application is currently pending with the California Public Utilities Commission.

The City sent out a sharply written press release Thursday afternoon: 

The City has repeatedly requested that UPRR not build this fence until the City’s at-grade crossing application is determined by the CPUC and a safe state of the art at-grade crossing can be built in conjunction with a safe fence.

The City is committed to public safety in the vicinity of railroad tracks that traverse the City. The City is committed to moving forward with the at-grade crossing to address access and safety issues for the Olive Drive residents. The City has a long history of investing local public dollars in crossings of the railroad tracks in Davis including, Covell Blvd. overcrossing, Mace Blvd widening, Dave Pelz pedestrian/bike overcrossing, Pole Line Road overcrossing, Richards Blvd. interchange improvements and Putah Creek I-80/RR undercrossing.

The city continues to adamantly oppose UPRR's decision to fence off the Olive Drive neighborhood from its historic access to the city and its historic ability to cross the tracks. Cutting off access at this time does not promote the process of determining a safe access to the Station and downtown Davis for the Olive Drive area nor does it promote safety for the Amtrak and freight trains that use this corridor. The city is concerned that the fence, as currently proposed, may decrease public safety rather than increasing safety because it may encourage crossing the track at and because it will impede emergency access to the Olive Drive area.

Because the Union Pacific Railroad property is considered private property regulated by the State and Federal government the City of Davis has no viable legal mechanism to stop the construction. It is unfortunate that UPRR, under current law, can move forward with no governmental approval or oversight that would look at the larger public safety and access issues before UPRR can commence building the proposed fence.

Following the hearing before the California Public Utilities Commission the Commission can direct that modification be made to the fence relative to an at-grade crossing.