SGA began work on the Homer Avenue project in Palo Alto, California, with a Feasibility Study evaluating bike and pedestrian crossings of the Caltrain railroad tracks. The goal was to better connect the city’s downtown with the adjacent bike path, train station, and medical center campus. Following the study, SGA led the detailed design and provided construction support for the preferred undercrossing concept.

Working within a highly constrained site, SGA delivered a visually open and welcoming underpass that has since become a regional model for design excellence. The design features clear mode separation between pedestrians and cyclists, with plazas anchoring both ends of the crossing. The portals are framed by landscaped retaining walls that gradually step down from the main track walls, reducing the visual impact of vertical surfaces and creating a more comfortable, human-scaled environment.

At the east portal, located within a dense grove of heritage trees, SGA designed custom stepped tree grates to allow for replanting while maintaining the continuity of this significant urban landscape element. The east plaza also preserves a historic masonry pedestal and monument, originally constructed in the early 1900s, integrating it into the new design as a meaningful connection to the site’s past.