Reimagining I-980

Removing the freeway would right a wrong, Oakland leaders say, but the Trump administration could be a roadblock

☕️MORNING BUZZ

—ROADBLOCK?—Starting in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the creation of Interstate 980 irreparably sealed off West Oakland from downtown.

The two-mile corridor linking Highway 24 to the Nimitz Freeway stifled commerce and fueled generations of resentment within the city’s African American population.

The will to tear down the 980 corridor and returning it to the community has been slowly building over the past few years.

Later this afternoon, the Oakland City Council Community and Economic Development Committee will accept a report on the progress for “reimagining the Interstate 980 corridor.”

The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) is open to any idea, according to a city staff report. Among them:

• Improving the existing freeways lengthy overcrossings and ramp alignments.

• Adding a park or community facility on top of the sunken area of the freeway.

• Removal of some freeway on/off ramps.

But the idea that has captured the imagination of transportation leaders and urban planners is the complete removal of the I-980 corridor. In its place, one idea is to create a multi-use district.

“Repurposing the freeway would unlock potential for commercial and residential development, and provide a long-term, transformational economic opportunity for Oakland,” according to a city staff report.

“If converted to a surface grade boulevard or capped, the excess freeway right-of-way could be repurposed to serve the needs of the West Oakland and Downtown residents with new housing, jobs, commercial spaces and public green space, prioritizing improvements to redress damage done to the West Oakland community in the creation of the freeway.”

Phase 2 of the community outreach strategy will not begin until 2026 and conclude in 2027, which means any plans for the I-980 corridor is years, if not decades away from coming to fruition.

Left unsaid in the report is the potential problems posed by the Trump administration. Phase 1 of the Caltrans Vision 980 Study is funded through a $500,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration’s State Planning & Research program

Phase 2 is funded by the Federal Reconnecting Communities Pilot grant of $680,000, along with $170,000 in matching state funds.

As we’ve seen repeatedly during the first month of Trump’s second term, policies deemed somehow to be “woke” has seen its federal funding pulled or placed on pause.

The I-980 corridor, an issue framed through the lens of race and equity, would represent some type of threat to the administration’s policies.

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