Plan to replace I-980 with tree-lined boulevard is panned

Q I think your column is ready to be spiced up a lot more. — D.W. Boegel Jr., Livermore AWhy is that?

Q

The Interstate 980 spinoff to I-880 in downtown Oakland may be removed, if both Oakland city leaders and the Biden administration have their way.

While we understand how brutally split up and polluted the West Oakland community has been, how will northern and eastern Contra Costa commuters connect with the Oakland Airport without street signal complications, if BART and the rest of public transit do not upgrade their connections from Concord, Walnut Creek, Antioch and Brentwood to the airport?

I encourage your most loyal readers to come up with the best alternatives to connect the Northern East Bay with the Oakland Airport, if Interstate980weretobetorn down. We must have a backup plan to reduce likely backups through downtown Oakland. — D.W. Boegel Jr.

A

I’m eager to hear them. The idea is to turn one of the Bay Area’s leastused freeways into a tree-lined, 2-mile boulevard and to convert it intonewparks, housing and other development. This may take a decade, if it gets a green light.

Q

The “Hate-the-Automobile” lobby is active again.

Their next brilliant idea is to eliminate the I-980 freeway in Oakland from north of San Pablo Avenue to I-880. My gas tax money went to build this freeway in the 1970s and ’80s, and now more tax monies may be used to eliminate it.

I have a better idea: if Oakland eliminates the I-980 freeway, it should be required to repay all the funding spent to build it. This idea should wind up in the trash can, just like it would have in the ’70s or ’80s.

— Bill Stock, Emerald Hills

A The entire Bay Area is singing a new tune — trying to demphasize car traffic in favor of safer streets for nearby residents, bicyclists and pedestrians.

It may be in the form of road diets like on Hillsdale Avenue in San Jose, tearing down 980, and banning cars in Golden Gate Park. And most people like not rebuilding the Cypress or the Embarcadero freeways after earthquake damage. Q Your note on repaving Highway 84 was timely. Prior to the recent improvements, 84 was closed to heavy truck traffic. The changes included truck lanes but the roadbed was not brought up to interstate standards. Just from the point of view of the taxpayer, the ban on heavy trucks should be re-instituted. — Claude Burdick A There are no plans to ban big rigs, Trucks have go somewhere.