Curious and concerned Alameda residents and business owners packed the open house at the Alameda Chamber & Economic Alliance office at South Shore Center on Thursday, April 24, to learn and provide input on the Oakland Alameda Access Project (OAAP). Project representatives from Caltrans and the Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) stood attentively by posters ready to clarify project details and receive feedback.
The project description highlights a series of benefits, including:
- Improved connectivity for travelers between Alameda and regional destinations, by constructing a new right-turn exit from the Posey Tube for more direct access to both directions of Interstate 880 (I-880).
- Reduced traffic congestion and risk of collisions in Oakland’s Chinatown neighborhood, by constructing a new horseshoe ramp from the Posey Tube onto northbound I-880 and demolishing the northbound I-880 off-ramp to Broadway to make way for a continuous, multimodal Sixth Street in Oakland.
- Infrastructure to support active mobility, by installing or upgrading bicycle and pedestrian facilities on local surface streets, as well as within and leading to both the Posey and Webster Tubes.
Lane closures
Project construction is expected to begin this fall and last through spring 2029, and will require the following lane closures: Daytime continuous one-lane closures of the Webster Tube for the first six months of the project, and of the Posey Tube for the subsequent 12 months after the Webster Tube improvement construction is completed. Approximately 20 to 25 occasional overnight closures will be required while construction activity is taking place for either Tube.
There will also be eight 55-hour weekend full closures of the Posey Tube to allow for major demolition and construction activity in Oakland. At no point during construction will both the Posey and Webster Tubes be closed simultaneously. The prescribed detour between Alameda and Oakland when either Tube is undergoing construction includes travel along Lincoln Avenue, the Park Street Bridge, 23rd Avenue/Kennedy Street, and I-880, which is projected to add up to 15 minutes to existing travel time, according to project staff.
Although attendees generally appreciated and understood the project’s goals, many were concerned about the construction timeline and its effect on travel time and patronage of local businesses.
“Regardless of the actual impacts, there is going to be the perceived impact,” explained Adam Dove, the co-owner of Saltbreaker, a restaurant in Alameda Point. “People will think they can’t get to Alameda, whether it’s true or not.”
But Alan, who lives on Alameda’s East End, saw the project as an opportunity to “beautify the travel experience and save lives” in Oakland’s Chinatown, as he reflected on what he called “an epicenter of traffic injuries” among the primarily elder and immigrant population in the area.
Several observers, like Alameda resident Jerry F., saw that the conceptual plans for the new on-ramp to northbound I-880 still feature a “pinch point” where entering traffic from the Posey Tube and Jackson Street combine into one lane, and expressed skepticism that the project would effectively address traffic congestion.
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“I don’t get it,” he said. “You’re still going to have the same problem.” He also suggested other measures, such as expansion of service days and frequency on the Oakland Alameda Water Shuttle and San Francisco Bay Ferry Service at Seaplane Lagoon, to facilitate travel during construction.
While running for City Council in October 2024, then-candidates Greg Boller and Michele Pryor had encouraged travelers to explore alternative forms of transportation during construction, such as bicycling or taking public transportation. Boller had called the project an “opportunity in disguise” to rethink travel habits and address traffic congestion in and around Alameda.
Tony Divencenzi, a West End resident, was not confident that commuters could be convinced to switch to other modes of travel, believing that people are not likely to change their habits. After all, even AC Transit buses could get stuck in traffic during construction.
But Mitchell Ball, who travels primarily by bike and ferry, had a more nuanced perspective.
“Lots of people who currently drive cars are unlikely to stop driving cars because they’ve already bought them,” Ball wrote in an email to the Alameda Post. “But I recently moved to Alameda because I wanted to save money living car-free and Alameda has tons of bike lanes and public transit. I think some car drivers might leave, but that makes room for car-free people to move in.”
There are three more upcoming open houses, which will provide opportunities to learn about and provide feedback on the project:
- Open House No. 3: Tuesday, April 29, 4:30-6 p.m., Oakland Asian Cultural Center, 388 Ninth Street, Suite 290, Oakland.
- Open House No. 4: Wednesday, April 30, 5-6:30 p.m. College of Alameda Student Lounge, 555 Ralph Appezzato Memorial Parkway, Alameda.
- Virtual Presentation: Wednesday, May 14, 5-6:30 p.m., via Zoom—register online.
Note: Ken Der is a transportation engineer/planner employed by Fehr & Peers, and contributed to the development of the Oakland Alameda Access Project.
Ken Der is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact him via [email protected]. His writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Ken-Der.
