California High-Speed Rail Station Delivery Support and Technical Assistance
SmithGroup's mobility, transportation and urban planning team has partnered with the California High-Speed Rail Authority to develop a state-of-the-art high-speed rail system plan that will shape the future of the state's rail network while delivering multiple benefits to local communities.
Client
California High-Speed Rail Authority
Location
Multiple
Markets/Services
Active Transportation & Mobility, Cities, Civic, Mobility, Urban Design, Urban Planning
The California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) has embarked on a multi-year planning effort to create the first high-speed rail system in the nation, running from San Francisco to Los Angeles with future phase connections to Sacramento and San Diego. SmithGroup has helped lead a comprehensive team of planning, architectural, engineering, real estate and community outreach specialists providing technical program support, urban planning and conceptual design for multiple proposed Phase 1 stations, and coordination with local stakeholders and other transportation partners.
All the stations are being evaluated to ensure efficient, safe, and desirable transit-supportive connectivity, with a focus on correcting past infrastructure that disconnected communities. The goal is for the stations to act as bridges linking the communities they serve and embedding that connectivity into the urban form itself. To help achieve this, SmithGroup and our consultant partners are providing architectural design support for station delivery, real estate and market analysis, transit and transportation planning, traffic analysis, land use reviews and system-wide transit-oriented development guidelines.
The team is also working with CHSRA to coordinate system updates as needs and strategy evolve through project delivery. SmithGroup has supported the Authority in reviewing draft environmental documents and schematic facility layouts, as well as assisting with cost estimating and documentation of system-wide updates for the business plan and project update reports.
SmithGroup has been leading public engagement activities across the entire system and coordinating multiple engagement consultants to ensure there is a holistic outreach strategy.
Working closely with local communities and the Authority, our project teams have led multiple workshops, open houses and focus sessions, using the input to develop vision studies, transit-oriented development plans, and complete streets and urban design integration for every station.
SmithGroup successful leadership of outreach and public engagement efforts across the Central Valley, Gilroy, Palmdale, Fresno and Southern California have helped maintain project momentum, achieve community goals and solicit public buy-in. SmithGroup has also supported successful grant applications including a federal RAISE award of $20M, and a $1M Reconnecting Communities Pilot (RCP) Program grant for Palmdale.
By honoring community diversity and leveraging transit to create meaningful places, California’s high-speed rail system will connect people to a wide range of destinations as well as social, environmental and economic benefits, establishing an impressive and impactful network across the state.