Interstate 980

{{Infobox road

|state=CA

|route=980

|type=I

|section=624

|map={{maplink-road|from=Interstate 980.map}}

|map_custom=yes

|map_notes=I-980 highlighted in red

|length_mi=2.03

|length_ref={{cite web |date=December 31, 2021 |title=Table 2: Auxiliary Routes of the Dwight D. Eisenhower National System Of Interstate and Defense Highways |url=https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/planning/national_highway_system/interstate_highway_system/routefinder/table02.cfm |access-date=July 13, 2022 |work=FHWA Route Log and Finder List |publisher=Federal Highway Administration}}

|established=1976 (FHWA); 1981 (state)

|counties=Alameda

|direction_a=West

|terminus_a={{Jct|state=CA|I|880}} in Oakland

|direction_b=East

|terminus_b={{Jct|state=CA|I|580|SR|24}} in Oakland

|previous_type=SR

|previous_route=905

|next_type=SR

|next_route=1

}}

Interstate 980 (I-980) is a short {{Convert|2.03|mi|km|adj=on}} auxiliary Interstate Highway entirely within Oakland in Northern California, connecting I-580 and State Route 24 (SR 24) to I-880 near Downtown Oakland. I-980 passes the Oakland Convention Center and near the famous Jack London Square. I-980 is commonly considered the dividing line between Downtown Oakland and West Oakland. The freeway was planned as the eastern approach to the Southern Crossing. The segment between I-880 and 17th Street is officially known as the John B. Williams Freeway, after the former director of the city of Oakland's Office of Community Development.{{CA Named Freeways | pages=99, 365}} In addition, I-980 and SR 24 in Oakland are both designated as part of the Grove-Shafter Freeway, after streets the route travels along (Grove Street was later renamed Martin Luther King Jr. Way).{{CA Named Freeways | pages=99, 272}}

I-980 was used as an alternate route between Oakland and San Francisco when the Cypress Viaduct carrying I-880 collapsed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Traffic headed from the south would have to use I-980 to I-580 west to I-80 west to get across the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge to reach San Francisco. This ended when I-880 reopened on a new alignment in 1997 (1998 to and from I-80 east).

Route description

Although I-980 physically goes north and south, it is signed as an east–west route like SR 24. Immediately after traffic leaves I-880 on elevated connector ramps, I-980 then descends below grade to pass under downtown city streets. The freeway then ascends above grade to pass over SR 123 (San Pablo Avenue) and 27th Street before reaching I-580 and SR 24.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

The freeway itself lacks overhead guide signs mentioning I-980. Immediately after exit 1B (SR 123/17th Street) going eastbound on I-980 is a guide sign mentioning the junction with I-580. Likewise, the guide signs on westbound I-980 at exit 1D (18th Street) list I-880 and San Jose as a control city. Since 2018, Jackson Street and I-880 south have been signed as exits 1B and 1A in the westbound direction.{{citation needed|date=February 2024}}

I-980 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System{{CAFESystem}} and is part of the National Highway System,{{FHWA NHS map|region=sanfrancisco|access-date=July 22, 2017}} a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA).{{FHWA NHS}}

History

The route known as I-980 was originally added to the state highway system in 1947 as part of Legislative Route 226 (LRN 226){{cite CAstat|year=1947|ex=1|ch=11|p=3798}}: "Route 226 is from a point in the vicinity of the intersection of Webster Street and Santa Clara Avenue in Alameda to a point on Route 5 [I-580] in Oakland." and to the California Freeway and Expressway System in 1959.{{cite CAstat|year=1959|ch=1062|p=3114}}: "Route 226 [SR 61, SR 260, and I-980] from Route 258 [SR 13] near San Leandro to Route 5 [I-580]." This segment of LRN 226 became part of SR 24 in the 1964 state highway renumbering.{{cite CAstat|year=1963|ch=385|p=1173}}: "Route 24 is from: (a) Route 17 near Castro Street in Oakland to Route 580..."

Construction on a Highway 24 freeway connecting Downtown Oakland with the Caldecott Tunnel in the Oakland Hills began in the 1960s. It was also originally intended to serve the Southern Crossing and a regional shopping mall in Oakland, neither of which were ever built. While the freeway was completed from the tunnel to I-580 and 27th Street, construction of the segment extending it further west to the Nimitz Freeway (present-day I-880) resulted in community opposition due to about 503 homes in the freeway's path (and thus slated to be demolished or moved). In 1972, a federal lawsuit halted its construction until Caltrans agreed to build replacement housing. With city officials still pushing for the freeway's completion, a compromise was also reached to change the design from an elevated freeway to a depressed freeway, decreasing noise.

To help complete the freeway with federal funding, the FHWA approved the addition of the segment to the Interstate Highway System in January 1976, with the Interstate money only used west of SR 123 (San Pablo Avenue).California Department of Transportation, [http://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/tsip/hseb/products/state_highway_routes_selected_information_1995_revised.pdf State Highway Routes: Selected Information], 1994 with 1995 revisions The segment's number was legislatively changed from Route 24 to I-980 in 1981,{{cite CAstat|year=1981|ch=292|p=1419}}: "Route 980 is from Route 17 in Oakland to Route 580." and it finally opened in 1985.

Future

The San Francisco Chronicle reported in November 2015 about a grassroots organization of local architects and planners, supported by Oakland mayor Libby Schaaf, that propose to replace I-980 with a landscaped city boulevard.{{cite web | url=http://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Oakland-moving-in-right-direction-with-idea-to-6633056.php | title=Oakland moving in right direction with idea to replace I-980 | newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle | first=John | last=King | date=November 14, 2015 | access-date=November 16, 2015}} ConnectOakland is coordinating the push for a replacement. In January 2017, I-980 was included in Congress for the New Urbanism "Freeways without Futures" report.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/01/30/report-oaklands-i-980-on-national-top-ten-list-for-teardown/|title=Report: Oakland's I-980 on national 'top ten' list for teardown|date=January 30, 2017 |access-date=2017-02-04}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnu.org/highways-boulevards/freeways-without-futures/2017#980|title=Freeways Without Futures 2017|date=2017-01-26|newspaper=CNU|language=en|access-date=2017-02-04}}

Caltrans and the city of Oakland received a $680,000 Reconnecting Communities planning grant, funded by the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, to study rebuilding or removing I-980.{{cite news |title=Oakland, Caltrans receives funds to study removing Interstate 980 in downtown |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/sanfrancisco/news/interstate-980-oakland-caltrans-receives-federal-funds-study-freeway-removal/ |date=24 February 2023 |agency=Bay City News Service}} BART may use the corridor as an approach for a second Transbay Tube.{{cite news |url=https://www.mercurynews.com/2021/05/11/a-freeway-separates-west-oakland-from-downtown-bidens-infrastructure-bill-could-help-get-rid-of-it/ |date=11 May 2021 |title=A freeway separates West Oakland from downtown. Biden's infrastructure bill could help get rid of it. |newspaper=San Jose Mercury News |author=Nicp Savidge }}

Arguments for replacement focus on the freeway's low volume of traffic and negative impact on surrounding neighborhoods. Concerns are however raised on whether the existing surface streets can handle the relocated traffic, and whether it may actually increase gentrification in the area.

Exit list

{{CAinttop|exit

|length_ref=

|exit_ref={{cite web |date= March 16, 2020 |publisher= California Department of Transportation |work= California Numbered Exit Uniform System |url= https://dot.ca.gov/-/media/dot-media/programs/safety-programs/documents/exit/calnexus-i-980-03-2020-a11y.pdf |title= Interstate 980 Freeway Interchanges |access-date= October 17, 2020}}

|location=Oakland

|county=Alameda

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=0.01

|mspan=4

|exit= 1A

|road={{Jct|state=CA|I|880|dir1=south|name1=Nimitz Freeway|city1=San Jose}}

|notes=No access to I-880 north; west end of I-980; I-880 north exit 42A; former SR 17

|type=incomplete

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=none

|exit=1B

|road=Jackson Street

|notes=Westbound exit only

|type=incomplete

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=none

|exit=1A

|road=11th Street, 14th Street

|notes=Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only

|type=incomplete

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=none

|exit=1B

|road=17th Street, San Pablo Avenue (to SR 123)

|notes=Eastbound exit and westbound entrance only

|type=incomplete

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=0.54

|exit=1C

|road=12th Street, 11th Street

|notes=Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only

|type=incomplete

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=0.90

|exit=1D

|road=18th Street, 14th Street

|notes=Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only

|type=incomplete

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=0.90

|exit=2A

|road=27th Street, West Grand Avenue

|notes=Westbound exit and eastbound entrance only

|type=incomplete

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=2.03

|mspan=2

|exit=2A

|road={{Jct|state=CA|I|580|name1=MacArthur Freeway|city1=San Francisco|city2=Hayward}}

|notes=East end of I-980; I-580 east exit 19C, west exit 19D; freeway continues east on SR 24

|nspan=2

}}

{{CAint|exit

|mile=none

|exit=2B

|road={{Jct|state=CA|SR|24|dir1=east|name1=Grove-Shafter Freeway|city1=Berkeley|city2=Walnut Creek}}

|notes=none

}}

References

External links

[https://www.aaroads.com/california/i-980_ca.html California @ AARoads.com - Interstate 980]
[https://www.cahighways.org/780-980.html#980 California Highways: I-980]
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/4313767001/in/set-72157622139053795/ Interstate 980 connection from 1966 Southern Crossing plan]
[http://www.connectoakland.org/ ConnectOakland]

Interstate 980

Route description

History

Future

Exit list

See also

References

External links