The city of Mountain View is facing delays and rising costs to add a reversible bus lane and other traffic improvements to Shoreline Boulevard north of Middlefield Road, but plans continue to move ahead.

Last week, the City Council approved an extra $683,000 to design the project, as well as a $6 million increase in the eventual construction budget. The construction budget increase is included within the city's five-year Capital Improvement Program, which the council approved as part of its consent agenda at a June 27 meeting. The design budget increase was approved as its own standalone consent agenda item.

With the additional funds approved, the project's design should be finished by early 2024, with construction expected to start next summer, according to a city staff report.

Plans to create a reversible bus lane on Shoreline Boulevard between Middlefield Road and Pear Avenue have been in the works for years. By creating a dedicated lane for buses, the idea is to encourage the use of public transportation and ease traffic heading into and out of North Bayshore. The direction that buses travel would switch depending on the time of day.

Traffic congestion is a frequent problem along Shoreline Boulevard, with workers heading to Google and other tech companies located at the north end of Mountain View. The area also includes Shoreline Amphitheatre, a major venue that hosts large concerts.

North Bayshore is only expected to grow in the coming years, with the council approving Google's large-scale development plans for the area last month. Representing the largest development ever approved in Mountain View, Google plans to redesign a portion of North Bayshore to include up to 7,000 new homes, 3 million square feet of office space and 26 acres of parks and open space over the next 30 years.

The City Council approved plans back in 2019 to add a reversible bus lane along the center of Shoreline Boulevard, along with protected bike lanes, modifications to traffic signals and new water and sewer lines.

The original plan would have also added extra turn lanes from Middlefield Road onto Shoreline Boulevard, but the council voted in 2021 to defer that part of the project for five years, citing concerns about removing trees and uncertainty about how traffic patterns would evolve after the pandemic. The rest of the plan moved forward.

Last week, the council voted to approve more spending for both the design and construction phases of the project.

The total construction budget increased from $16.4 million to $22.4 million, with $2 million each coming from the North Bayshore Water Development Impact Fees, Wastewater Fund and Shoreline Regional Park Community bond money.

The design budget increased from $3.33 million to $4.02 million, $150,000 of which will come from the city's Water Fund, and $533,000 of which will come from the Shoreline Regional Park Community bond proceeds.

Design budget increases

A city staff report broke down the details of the $683,000 increase in the design budget, revealing that the reversible bus lane project has "experienced significant delays" because of staffing challenges. The project manager position has been vacant since January 2022, the report said.

With the job still sitting empty, the city hired the consulting firm Gray Bowen Scott in February 2023 to provide project management and construction support for the reversible bus lane project. The agreement with Gray Bowen Scott was originally for $100,000, but city staff said that funding will soon be used up.

The council last week approved a staff recommendation to increase the Gray Bowen Scott agreement by $137,000, for a total of $237,000.

"The recommended increase will allow a dedicated project manager to continue providing project management, coordination, and oversight," the staff report said.

The council also approved an additional $396,000 for Mark Thomas & Company, which is providing design services for the project. That money will go towards additional design work, including increased costs for what's known as "potholing," which involves excavating at specific locations to confirm possible underground conflicts with other utilities.

The project has also expended the prior amount budgeted for city staff time and the council approved $50,000 in additional city staff costs. Finally, the council approved $80,000 for other consulting services and $20,000 towards the project contingency.