A half-century ago, Interstate 980 cut a swath through West Oakland, severing neighborhoods from the rest of the city. Now some federal lawmakers want to help tear it up.
Fueled by a $680,000 federal grant, Caltrans will study how the freeway could be replaced by a city street that’s less invasive to the mostly Black neighborhoods it divided, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The funding is part of the “Reconnecting the Town” initiative headed by U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg. A vacant freeway could be a boon to local real estate developers.
“For too long, I-980 has been a scourge on the East Bay,” Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, said in a statement. “Instead of bringing communities together, it has been a barrier to economic opportunity for the primarily Black neighborhood of West Oakland.”
Construction on I-980 began in the 1960s, but wasn’t finished until 1985. The roughly 2-mile motorway connected Interstate 580 and Highway 24 with I-880, past the Oakland airport to San Jose.
For many, I-980 is the quickest route to Jack London Square.
But the freeway project destroyed more than 500 homes, nearly two dozen businesses and several churches.
And while planners envisioned a connection to a second transbay bridge between San Francisco and Highway 24, the span was never built.
Urban advocates in Oakland now say the highway was unnecessary – a result of a mid-20th century investment in car culture that divided Black residents in West Oakland from Downtown.
In between was a noise-polluted pedestrian pathway surrounded by vehicle traffic.
Past efforts to convert the highway to a tree-laden city street have consistently failed. Even a project included in President Joe Biden’s $2.3 trillion infrastructure proposal in 2021 was later left out of the approved spending package.
But the latest grant could signal new life for Oakland residents who believe removing the highway is the best way to make their city whole.
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“This grant will help us set the stage for reconnecting West Oakland and Downtown, part of our continuing effort to address decades worth of environmental injustices and deliver more equitable outcomes,” said Mayor Sheng Thao in a statement.
In a similar situation, a dusty parcel in Pasadena that once was planned to connect to the 710 Freeway has been returned to the city, opening the door for new development.
— Dana Bartholomew