Freeway Rubble Sought for a Harbor
A fishermen’s association wants to use the rubble from the collapsed section of the Nimitz Freeway in Oakland to build a breakwater for Noyo Harbor, one of the state’s most dangerous ports.
“A breakwater is badly needed here,” said Zeke Grader Jr. of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Assns. “We’re trying to make a safer entrance. It’d be cheaper than trucking in hard rock and it’d help out Caltrans.”
The association on Tuesday sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers asking it to use the debris to build a 450-foot breakwater on a reef 30 feet underwater outside the harbor entrance.
“This is a very dangerous port to get into,” said Bethel Green, assistant harbor master. “You can’t get into it in the winter, when we have westerly seas.”
The debris from the freeway (Interstate 880) is being deposited on Caltrans’ right-of-way in Castro Valley. About 70,000 cubic yards of debris is expected to be hauled there from the two miles of fallen double-deck section that collapsed in the Oct. 17 earthquake, killing 42 people.
Caltrans says the debris is owned by three contractors under their contract with the state to demolish the freeway. Spokesmen for the contractors, however, said as far as they are concerned, the rubble is Caltrans’ and they plan to leave it at the Castro Valley site.
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