The Martin Luther King Jr Regional Shoreline is an important regional recreational destination located on the Oakland coastline of the San Leandro Bay. This little-known destination is home to miles of biking and walking trails, a section of the San Francisco Bay Trail, a boathouse, club house, and a peaceful waterfront atmosphere that stands in stark contrast to the industrial lands that border this area. Residents of East Oakland currently have no way to access this destination by foot or on bike. This green space is totally cut off from the low-income neighborhoods of East Oakland by the 880 Freeway, various railroad tracks, and wide swaths of industrial land. The nearest bicycle connection to the Oakland shoreline is on Fruitvale Avenue, and in the 4.2 miles between Fruitvale Avenue and the San Leandro City border, there is one pedestrian/bicycle bridge over the 880, close to 98th Avenue.
This project seeks to finally create a connection from East Oakland to the Shoreline for people walking and biking - on 66th Avenue between San Leandro Street and Oakport Street. 66th Avenue is in many ways the most direct connection between a wide array of East Oakland neighborhoods and the Bay Trail/MLK Jr Regional Shoreline. The upcoming Coliseum Connections project will complete a key segment of the East Bay Greenway on San Leandro Street which will provide a direct bicycle connection to the eastern end of the project area at 66th and San Leandro Street. From there, the project will extend west past the entrance to the Oakland Coliseum at Coliseum Way, and over the Caltrans 880 freeway bridge to the entrance of the Shoreline and Bay Trail at the intersection of 66th Ave and Oakport Street.
The roadway today is a maze of freeway on and off-ramps and is not fit for people biking. This project will realign freeway ramps to create an off-street Class I biking/walking pathway on the south side of 66th Avenue which will provide a safe and calm connection for people biking and walking between the Bay Trail/Oakport Street and San Leandro Street. OakDOT is working towards applying for Design and Construction Funding from the One Bay Area Grant (OBAG) Cycle 3, due on June 30, 2022.
Timeline:
- June 30, 2022 - OBAG (MTC) Grant deadline
- Early 2023 - Grant award notifications
- Summer 2023 - Begin detailed design and coordination with Caltrans and Union Pacific Railroad
This is a complex design effort that will require coordination between OakDOT, Caltrans, Union Pacific Railroad, and the Coliseum Complex. An estimated date for construction of this project is not available at this time.