At the November 19, 2020 BPAC meeting, Rodney Pimentel presented on the Oakland-Alameda Access Project which has been planned for over 30 years and has suffered several failed attempts to reached consensus on a build alternative. Recent progress by the Alameda CTC and Caltrans has led to the circulation of a Draft EIR/EA. Pending selection of a preferred alternative, the project should be in construction by 2023. The presentation included a short simulation video that you can view on the project website.

Public comments on the Draft Environmental Document are open until November 30, 2020.

Project Overview

“The proposed Oakland Alameda Access Project provides a unique opportunity to address long-standing safety, mobility, and accessibility issues for communities within the project area that have endured these issues for decades.

This project was formerly known as the I-880/Broadway-Jackson Interchange Improvement Project.

The Oakland Alameda Access Project is intended to improve multimodal safety and reduce conflicts between regional and local traffic. It will also improve accessibility between I-880, SR-260 (the Webster and Posey Tubes), City of Oakland downtown neighborhoods, and the City of Alameda. Lastly, the project will reduce freeway-bound regional traffic and congestion on local roadways and in area neighborhoods.

The Oakland Alameda Access Project will also increase safety, accessibility, and connectivity for bicyclists and pedestrians between Chinatown, downtown Oakland, the Jack London District, and Alameda. Adding new bike lanes and sidewalks will increase foot and bike traffic and decrease car use in these crowded neighborhoods.”

—from the project website.

Presentation

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Summary of Discussion

• Consider the bikeway connection along 7th St from Laney College (where there are existing bike lanes on 7th St) instead of the bikeway proposed by the project on 6th St.
• Currently the cycle track is shown as being separated by traffic from striping. The City of Oakland has requested that concrete separation be included.
• Making the pedestrian/bicyclist access in the Posey and Webster Tubes each for one-way travel would be an improvement for these narrow sidewalks. Passing people is challenging, and one-way flow would help this.
• If the tubes are made one-way for pedestrian/bicyclist access, consider how pedestrians and bicyclists get from one tube to the other at either end. Currently these connections are challenging.
• These connections in the tubes will remain poor for pedestrians and bicyclists. This barrier should be solved by a bicyclist and pedestrian bridge across the Oakland Estuary. This bridge concept could be advanced with $6 million to fund two studies needed to develop this possibility.
• People can submit comments on the Draft Environmental Document until November 30, 2020.