Cypress Replacement

"Restoring The Link"

BACKGROUND

The I-880 Cypress Replacement Project is located in the City of Oakland and in the City of Emeryville, near the east shore of the San Francisco Bay. The original Cypress Viaduct was a vital section of the I-880, which connect San Jose and the East Bay Area to San Francisco, Sacramento and the Sierra Nevada.  The eight lanes double-decked viaduct carried between 140,000 -160,000 vehicles per day. On October 17, 1989, the viaduct was damaged by the Loma Prieta earthquake which measured 7.1 on the Richter Scale. The earthquake completely destroyed section of the Cypress viaduct between 18th and 34th Street and extensively damaged the section between 7th and 18th Street in Oakland. The damaged sections of the viaduct was removed and the I-880 traffic was diverted to the city streets, I-980 and I-580 freeway corridors. This has created severe traffic congestion in this area.

CYPRESS CHALLENGES

The challenges of the Cypress Reconstruction included:

  • Environmental Remediation

  • Geological conditions

  • Compliance with Interstate Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA). Material generated on the project are recycled and reused in rebuilding the project.

  • Accelerated construction schedule

  • New construction technology

  • Conformance to City Ordinance

  • Community involvement

  • Coordination with other agencies

  • Contract and schedule administration

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The Cypress Replacement Freeway consists of a series of transit improvements, Transportation Systems Management (TSM) and Transportation Management Plans (TMP) strategies, and a partial at-grade freeway component. The new six-lane freeway includes three mixed-flow lanes in each direction will begin at the I-880/I-980 split and continue north towards West Grand Avenue Interchange, where the alignment splits into two connectors. The connectors to the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge (SFOBB) and the Distribution Structure to I-80 near Powell Street consists of  two mixed-flow lanes in each direction. The SFOBB connector will include a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane. Several on and off ramps will ease access to and from the new freeway and surface streets.  A diamond interchange at Adeline and Union streets will allow access to and from the Port of Oakland and downtown Oakland. A new frontage road will be constructed parallel  to northbound I-880 from the Seventh Street off ramp to West Grand Avenue.

The Cypress Replacement Project consists of: seven major construction contracts, several small to medium sized contracts to maximize Disadvantage Business Enterprise (DBE) involvement and preparation work for the major contracts. The Major Construction Contracts are:

  • Contract A

  • Contract B

  • Contract C

  • Contract D

  • Contract E

  • Contract F

  • Contract G




PROJECT SCHEDULE AND COST

The $1 Billion dollar project is funded by Federal Emergency Relief Funds and is divided into approximately $650 million for construction and $350 million for right-of-way acquisition, railroad and utility relocation, traffic management, commitments to the City of Oakland and Emeryville. Construction started on April 1, 1994 and a section of the freeway  with the connector to the SFOBB was completed and opened to traffic on July 16 1997.  Southbound connector from Westbound I-80 opened to traffic on April 25,1998.  The connector to the Distribution Structure to I-80 near Powell Street will completed by Fall 1998.

INDEX PAGE CYPRESS REP. PROJECT MAP