** August 2024 Update **
Construction Funding Award
The Oakland Department of Transportation has secured $8.7 million in construction funding for LAMMPS Phase 2 and Phase 3 from the State's Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities (AHSC) Program, as part of the $45 million award to the Residences at Liberation Park, an affordable housing project in East Oakland. By building safe and accessible connections on MacArthur Boulevard and Seminary Avenue, the LAMMPS Projects will connect the areas to the east -- including the Residences at Liberation Park, the adjacent Eastmont Town Center, and surrounding neighborhoods in East Oakland -- to essential services, major employment centers, and other destinations, including Northeastern University, the Laurel Commercial District, and Downtown Oakland. The City is currently pursuing additional funding to cover the full construction costs of the LAMMPS Phase 2 and 3 Projects.
Design Work Restarts in Early 2025
The community and OakDOT, working together in 2022, came up with great early designs for the project. In early 2025, once we have a design consultant on board, we’ll be back out in the community to revisit the 2022 designs and finalize them together.
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MacArthur Boulevard is a major thoroughfare connecting multiple neighborhoods in Oakland. It also serves as an important corridor for transit, with multiple AC Transit lines running on MacArthur Boulevard and the NL Transbay bus that connects Oakland to San Francisco. OakDOT's adopted Capital Improvement Program for fiscal years 2021-2023 identifies MacArthur Boulevard from Lakeshore to East Oakland as a high priority corridor for community-based transportation planning and multi-modal transportation improvements.
Laurel Access to Mills, Maxwell Park, and Seminary (LAMMPS) Phase 1 was a community-based transportation planning process that identified safety improvements along MacArthur Boulevard between High Street and Richards Road. From that planning process, the City of Oakland implemented multiple improvements, including new curb ramps, landscaping, reconfigured intersections, and pavement marking and striping. A major improvement was the design and construction of a Class 1, off-street shared use path that provides a safe bicycle connection between the Laurel District and Mills College.
LAMMPS Phase 2 builds off of LAMMPS Phase 1 and is focused on improving safety on MacArthur Boulevard between 55th Avenue and Seminary Avenue. The primary goal of the LAMMPS Phase 2 project is to continue the Class I pathway and extend this safe bicycling and walking trail to connect the Laurel District with the Frick, Seminary, Millsmont, and Havenscourt neighborhoods. The scale and types of improvements on this corridor will be informed by feedback by community members. These improvements could include:
- Bicycling improvements - To align with Let's Bike Oakland, the City's Bicycle Plan, there could be the addition of a protected bike facility along this corridor. This would extend the Class 1 facility that was implemented through the LAMMPS Phase 1 project.
- Intersection improvements at 55th and Macarthur as well as Seminary Avenue and Macarthur - These improvements will enhance safety for bicyclists and pedestrians who are crossing these two intersections.
- Pedestrian safety improvements, including new marked crosswalks, pedestrian refuge islands, and other enhancements.
- Roadway restriping to reconfigure travel lanes and lower the speed of vehicle traffic
Preparations for Grant Applications: To prepare competitive grant applications for funding to design and build the project, OakDOT staff conducted in-person and virtual outreach throughout Spring and Summer 2022. Conceptual designs were created in Summer 2022, and the City applied to several grants later that year.
2023 ACTC CIP Funding for Design: On May 1, 2023, the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) announced that the City of Oakland would receive $1,196,688 of local transportation funding to fully design the LAMMPS 2 Project. The City of Oakland is committed to a match of approximately $450,000, bringing the available funding to over $1.6 million. With this funding, the Department of Transportation will work with residents and other stakeholders to come up with a final design for the LAMMPS 2 Project. Having a final design will make the project a strong candidate for state and federal funding to build the project. OakDOT staff will begin community outreach in the Summer of 2024.
