I-680 toll lane plans include changes at Highway 84 exit

QWhat improvements are planned at the point the north Interstate 680 express lane ends near the Highway 84 exit? If a large number of vehicles in the left express lane need to merge across three stopped lanes of traffic to exit at 84, it seems like the entire express lane will grind to a halt. Do plans address this likely bottleneck? Mark Antonioli, Alamo

AOh, yes. The northbound express lane will end at Calaveras Road, south of where traffic going to Livermore will exit at Vallecitos Road. There will be about 1,000 feet for people to get out of the express lane and move to right if exiting to Livermore.

And they’re revamping the 84- 680 interchange to provide a twolane off ramp from north 680 to 84 towards Livermore. The current auxiliary lane will be extended by about 1,000 feet.

QI moved to Fremont in 2011. At that time a construction project had already begun at the Union City BART station. It’s now 2018 and the project still isn’t finished. They built new emergency exits on one of the platforms, but then covered them with wallboard to make sure they couldn’t be used. They installed new fare gates on the west side of the station, then roped them off with caution tape to make it look like a crime scene.

They renovated and reopened the restrooms. Unfortunately, even that is a mixed blessing. While the restrooms were under construction there were porta- potties outside the station. Now that the restrooms inside the station have reopened, the homeless have gone back to using the bike lockers for their restroom. Roughly once a year someone comes along and clean the feces off the lockers, but most of the time they are pretty disgusting.

What are they building at the Union City station, why did work stop and when will it finish? Tim Bosserman, Fremont

ABART unveiled the new east entrance at the Union City Station in March of last year to provide people with a direct path into the station. However, an at- grade pedestrian crossing must be built and land for that is controlled by Union Pacific Railroad.

The entrance will not be available to pedestrians until Union City completes its agreement with U- P and the new crossing is installed. Union Pacif ic has accepted a design for an at- grade crossing and the California Public Utilities Commission in December issued the permit for construction. The city is still working out some legal details with Union Pacific.

BART is also working with Union City to modify the east station entrance so it will mirror the west entrance with two escalators and stairs. A contract could be advertised by the end of summer.