West Oakland Sustainable Transportation Equity Project (STEP)

* * Fall 2024 Updates * *

SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENTS. OakDOT will be bringing $4 million of sidewalk improvements to West Oakland, including repairing damaged sidewalks and upgrading curb ramps. Construction is expected to begin in late 2024 and conclude in December 2025.

TREE PLANTING. Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation, in partnership with Hyphae Labs, WOEIP, and other community organizations, will be planting trees throughout West Oakland. They will begin outreach to residents this fall. Stay tuned for more details!

TRUCK PARKING MANAGEMENT. In 2022, the City banned all trucks longer than 22 feet from parking within West Oakland. Through the STEP grant, OakDOT's Parking and Mobility team will be acquiring four vehicle license plate readers, which will enhance their ability to enforce this parking ban.

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STEP PROJECT BACKGROUND

In early 2022, the City of Oakland received notification of a grant award from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to fund four projects in West Oakland. Collectively, these four projects are the West Oakland Sustainable Transportation Equity Project (STEP). The grant agreement was signed in early 2023, and the transit improvement projects began in Fall 2023. Work on sidewalks and tree plantings began in Summer 2024.

STEP’s overarching purpose is to increase transportation equity in a way that benefits residents of disadvantaged and low-income communities. Based on environmental justice principles, the STEP program funds projects that are priorities for historically under-served and over-burdened residents by requiring that projects center the knowledge and expertise of these residents through all phases of the project.

The West Oakland STEP grant will fund the following projects identified by community residents and stakeholders:

1. West Oakland Truck Management Plan Implementation, which includes improving truck route signage, truck and trailer parking enforcement, and truck traffic calming recommendations
2. West Oakland Pedestrian Improvements and Urban Greening, which includes extensive repair of sidewalk damage and curb ramp upgrades, planting up to 1,500 trees and shrubs, and developing a community-based urban greening stewardship model
3. West Oakland Bike Resource Hub, which includes hosting free monthly workshops, free Earn-A-Bike programming, and free bike repair services throughout West Oakland
4. West Oakland Transit Access Improvements, which includes upgrading 11 bus stops in West Oakland and piloting a West Oakland Universal Basic Mobility Program to distribute 1,000 prepaid transit and shared mobility passes to West Oaklanders

These projects are directly implementing the recommendations and strategies from a community-driven process to reduce emissions and improve transportation options called Owning Our Air: The West Oakland Community Action Plan (WOCAP), which was adopted by City Council in 2019.

Community Partners

The grant application was successful due to collaboration with community-based organizations. These projects will be implemented in partnership with the following community-based organizations that have strong roots in West Oakland:

• West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP)
• Oakland Parks and Recreation Foundation (OPRF)
• Urban Biofilter
• The Crucible

Funding

CARB is providing $7.66 million in grant funding. The City of Oakland and Alameda County Transportation Commission (CTC) is providing a local match of about $2.8 million. In total, about $10.5 million will be invested in these four projects in West Oakland. On July 5, 2022, Oakland City Council authorized the Oakland Department of Transportation to accept the CARB grant and enter into contracts with our community partners in order to implement West Oakland STEP.

The grant from CARB comes from the Sustainable Transportation Equity Project, or STEP, a pilot program launched by CARB in 2020 to improve transportation equity. The funding supports implementation of clean transportation projects in low-income and disadvantaged communities, or those overburdened by pollution. West Oakland STEP was chosen from a competitive pool of projects that were submitted from jurisdictions across the state of California. 
 

Summer 2024 Activity 

SIDEWALK IMPROVEMENTS. The West Oakland Environmental Indicators Project (WOEIP) conducted outreach to get feedback on where the West Oakland community would like to see sidewalk repairs and curb ramp improvements. OakDOT expects to begin building those improvements at the end of 2025.

UNIVERSAL BASIC MOBILITY PROGRAM. The West Oakland Universal Basic Mobility Program identified 1,000 participants to receive pre-paid debit cards for transportation expenses. See the project page for more information. 

Staff Contact

Cathy DeLuca, cdeluca@oaklandca.gov