Overview
The City of Oakland paved and redesigned 8th Street in West Oakland between Pine Street and Market Street, with the goal of reducing traffic collisions and speeding to make the street safer for residents, and more comfortable for users of all modes. This project was submitted by the community advocacy group Safe 8th St as a Capital Improvement Program (CIP) request and was funded as part of the City of Oakland’s Fiscal Year 2021-23 CIP. Specifically, the 8th Street CIP project is funded by $500,000 from Measure KK, Oakland’s Affordable Housing and Infrastructure Bond that was passed by voters in 2018. The project is part of the Department of Transportation’s Paving Plan and will implement recommendations in Oakland's Pedestrian Plan and Bicycle Plan.
Project implementation began in 2023 and is currently ongoing. In the Documents section below, find the concept plans and overview presentation.
Project Design & Policy Elements
The goal of the project is to traffic calm the street into a quiet residential street. This included reducing the speed limit. Other project elements include paving the length of the street, upgrading curb ramps to meet accessibility standards, installing high-visibility crosswalks and installing traffic circles, speed humps to reduce speeding, and hardened centerlines to reduce the speeds of turning drivers at intersections as well as a new mid-block crosswalk on 8th Street between Adeline Street and Filbert Street. There is also a community art element to the project, specifically, painting on utility cabinets.
Community Art
This project included a community art element. After engaging with local residents and artists to develop ideas for art installations and design themes, three different artists and art organizations took the lead on designing and painting a total of 13 utility cabinets along 8th Street between Pine Street and Market Street. The designs for these art works have been approved by the Public Arts Advisory Committee and will be completed by March 2024.
Geographic Context
1.2 miles in length, 8th Street connects the Acorn, Prescott, and Lower Bottoms neighborhoods.
Background
8th Street has seen significant changes over the years. In the mid 1900s it was a major street – comparable to 7th Street – connecting West Oakland, Downtown, and Eastlake. The Cypress Freeway (now Mandela Parkway) had on off-ramp onto 8th Street. The connection between West Oakland and Downtown was severed by the construction of I-980 in the 1980s. The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, which caused the collapse of the Cypress Freeway, ended 8th Street’s connection to the freeway. The Acorn Redevelopment project narrowed 8th Street between Union Street and Market Street. What had been a 60’ wide street (presumably with four travel lanes) became the 44’ wide street of today (with two travel lanes). In the 2000s, the City of Oakland implemented two major projects on 8th Street that installed bulbouts, concrete crosswalks, pedestrian street lighting, and street trees. The 8th Street Traffic Calming Project sought to build on this history with additional improvements to make 8th Street a safe and welcoming neighborhood street.
