After years of planning, environmental review and public outreach, the long-awaited Interstate 80/Ashby Avenue Interchange Improvements project has reached another milestone—but Emeryville and West Berkeley residents, along with the many cyclists, pedestrians and commuters who use the corridor, will still have a lengthy wait for a safer connection to the Bay Trail.
Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) recently announced that the project’s stand-alone Phase I Bicycle and Pedestrian Overcrossing (BPOC) has entered final design and right-of-way acquisition, advancing the bridge as the first phase of what was originally envisioned as a much larger interchange reconstruction.
A Decade-Long Vision
The larger interchange improvement project has been under development since 2017 and is intended to modernize the aging Ashby Avenue interchange while improving connections between Emeryville, Berkeley and the East Bay shoreline. A centerpiece of the project is a dedicated bicycle and pedestrian bridge spanning I-80, creating a long-planned east-west link between Emeryville’s growing bicycle network along Shellmound Street and the San Francisco Bay Trail while improving access to the shoreline.
Currently, people walking or bicycling must detour north to the University Avenue overcrossing or south to the Powell Street undercrossing to reach the waterfront. The proposed overcrossing would eliminate that gap, creating a safer and more direct route for cyclists and pedestrians. During the early planning process, some residents and bicycle advocates favored a location closer to Powell Street, saying it would provide a stronger connection between Emeryville’s downtown, the peninsula and the Bay Bridge Trail. The current alignment near Ashby Avenue was ultimately selected…