March 2025 RASC Members Only Montebello Corridor Grade Separation Project Site Visit
On March 14 under grey skies and a light drizzle, 35 RASC members met at the trailers in Montebello for a behind the scenes tour of the Montebello Corridor Grade Separation Project, the latest undertaking by the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments (SGVCOG) on the Alameda Corridor-East Project.
Keith Gillfillan, Transportation Group Manager at Moffatt & Nichol and Carrie Inciong, Project Manager for SGVCOG, provided an in-depth PowerPoint on the history of the ACE corridor: first established in 1998, ACE covers 70 miles of rail within the San Gabriel Valley, and 40% of the ports’ rail traffic travels through the corridor. That traffic has doubled since the project began in 2015.
Montebello is the latest of a total of 19 ACE grade separation projects. 16 have been completed and three are in construction. An additional 53 crossing safety improvements have been completed and five are in design.
At a project cost of $230M, the crossing of UPRR rail lines at Montebello Boulevard sees 21,700 vehicles and 43 trains every day, with ten recorded collisions. The project will eliminate collisions, congestion, first responder delays, and train horn noise. Once completed, the City of Montebello will be able to apply for a Quiet Zone designation.
We walked from the construction trailer across the tracks to the south side of the project, where RASC members observed a crew working on utility relocation using Jack and Bore, ideal for pipe installation where surface disruption is unacceptable and the window for completion is limited.
Nearby, the first retaining walls were being built on either side of the future lowered Montebello Blvd. Keith pointed out the CIDH piles, a type of deep foundation used in areas with unstable soil. The final shape and enormity of the project was clear in the early formation of retaining walls #1 and #7.
Drainage is another complication on the Montebello Crossing. The Rio Hondo Wash runs through the project, bringing with it multiple concerns. But it wasn’t the survey crew’s ground penetrating radar or potholing that produced the most telling image from the channel that narrows to a 10’x18’ box culvert: construction crews photographed a vehicle abandoned in the storm drain. Removing it was an unexpected added improvement.
Up top, the improvements include a new shoofly and a spur track to serve UPRR clients. More importantly, the City will no longer be cut in half when two-mile long trains weave through the community, significantly improving response times for emergencies and first responders, and wait times for general traffic.
Because the grade separation is in a dense residential and commercial area, SGVCOG outreach coordinator Maria Cano developed an individual approach to the project, utilizing on-going briefings and social media for a broad reach. She knocks on doors to meet the citizens, listen to their concerns, and inform them of the benefits the grade separation will bring.
Thank you, Carrie Inciong, Maria Cano, and Keith Gillfillan for the informative presentation and tour. Thank you to J.P. Ziegler for providing a delicious catered lunch. And thank you to our attending RASC members, and our 2025 Platinum Sponsors, HDR and Moffatt & Nichol, our Gold Sponsors GHD, Olsson, Mott MacDonald and Zephyr Rail, and our Silver Sponsor EMI, whose participation makes our scholarship program not only possible, but robust!
RASC is committed to the education of the next generation of rail engineers, with the goal to provide scholarships for undergraduates interested in transportation. Funds raised from these luncheons support that initiative directly.
Join us! Sign up now to become a member of the Railway Association of Southern California (2025 RASC Membership) and be first in line for the next program.
Sponsor us! Help us grow our scholarship base. Sponsor a program by reaching out to J.P. Ziegler (jackson.ziegler@railpros.com) or become an annual corporate sponsor (RASC Sponsorship Levels).