Six years after the City Council embarked on an ambitious plan to construct new buildings, garages and bikeways, Palo Alto is entering ribbon-cutting season, with the first project on the expansive list nearing the finish line.

The new Fire Station 3, near Rinconada Park, is the first project from the council's 2014 Infrastructure Plan to reach completion, with the city initially preparing to hold a grand opening ceremony in late March. While that event was canceled as part of the city's effort to control the spread of coronavirus, residents will get plenty of other opportunities this year to welcome new facilities.

A new six-level garage in the California Avenue business district is rapidly rising at 350 Sherman Ave., with completion eyed for this summer. And the long-awaited bike bridge over U.S. Highway 101, which has been in the planning phases since 2012, could be in place by the end of this year, Public Works Director Brad Eggleston told the council during a March 2 discussion of the city's progress on various projects.

Concurrently, staff is wrapping up the second phase of the Charleston-Arastradero streetscape project and preparing to move ahead this summer with the third and final phase of the plan, which includes new median islands, bulbouts, enhanced bike lanes and new traffic signals, as well as modifications at the El Camino Real intersection.

"We're moving into more and more project-construction as time goes by," Eggleston said.

The city is rebuilding its infrastructure at a time when construction costs are skyrocketing, a regional trend that has inflated the price tag of the multifaceted plan from $136.6 million at the time of adoption to $288 million. The projected cost of most expensive project on the list — a new police headquarters — has gone from $57 million in 2014 to about $115 million.

The ballooning costs have forced council members to make some adjustments to the 2014 plan, which is being funded largely through hotel-tax revenues. These include adopting a less fancy design for the new bike bridge than was initially envisioned and indefinitely delaying the construction of a proposed downtown garage, a decision that was based on both growing costs and the languishing public support for the project.

Despite these setbacks, most of the plan remains on track. Fire Station 3, at the corner of Embarcadero and Newell roads, is pretty much finished, Eggleston said. The project has had some troubles of its own, including a revolving door of subcontractors and superintendents. The turnover, as well as the removal from the project of a contractor who was responsible for a heating, ventilation and air conditioning system for the fire station, had extended the timeline for the $10.1-million station.

"This project has definitely had its challenges," Eggleston said. "It should have been completed about a year ago but the good news on that is it finally is done and we're projecting it to finish under budget — so that part is good."

Eggleston and Fire Chief Geoffrey Blackshire highlighted some of the key features of the new fire station, including dormitories for firefighters and bays that will allow fire trucks to easily enter and exit the station, obviating the need for them to back up into the street (trucks will now be able to drive straight through the station).

Blackshire called the new station "inviting" and said the department is hoping that the people in the neighborhood "own this as their neighborhood fire station," Blackshire said.

He also noted the station was designed to shave "seconds upon seconds" from the department's response time. The prior station's roll-up doors, for example, took between 14 and 21 seconds to roll up, often requiring firefighters to wait inside the fire trucks for the doors to go up. The new doors cut that time to about 7 seconds.

Instead of going down several flights of stairs, firefighters in the upstairs dormitories will be able to use poles to drop next to the apparatus. And the station's alert system includes a digital voice that notifies responders about the call type and location, allowing them to immediately put on the appropriate gear without waiting for further information from a dispatcher, who may still be gathering information.

"It's seconds upon seconds upon seconds that this structure allows us to save to have better and faster response to the community," Blackshire told the council.

While the Fire Station 3 is the project closest to completion, the new California Avenue garage is perhaps the most conspicuous sign of Palo Alto's aggressive infrastructure boom. The $51.4 million project has been in the works for about a year and remains on schedule, Eggleston said.

As of late February, contractors have completed garage decks for the two basement levels, as well as for two of the four above-ground levels.

"We're making speedy progress here," Eggleston said.

Once completed, the 636-space garage will create 320 new spaces for the business district, where merchants and restaurant owners have been hit hard by months of construction and a loss of parking spaces. While the new garage is expected to alleviate some of the parking pressures later this year, the area will remain a hive of construction activity, as the city launches construction of the $118 million public-safety building at an adjacent lot at 250 Sherman Ave., next to Antonio's Nut House.

Unlike the fire station, which has seen construction stall before resuming, the California Avenue garage has been proceeding at a rate that Councilwoman Liz Kniss called "astonishing." Eggleston noted that the contractor, Swinerton, has been committed to finishing the project on time, even if it means working on many Saturdays.

"Given the speed with which construction costs are going up, this is very important," Kniss said. "When you go that fast, you save money."