Relocation Plan OKd for Quake-Devastated Freeway

In a victory for residents of west Oakland, the California Transportation Commission on Friday approved a plan to relocate the devastated Cypress Freeway, which collapsed during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake.

The commission unanimously endorsed the $700-million project, which calls for shifting the freeway to the west of the original route and rebuilding it along a rail corridor at the edge of west Oakland, connecting with Interstate 80 just east of the Bay Bridge toll booths.

The new eight-lane freeway, which could take two years to complete, will replace the collapsed, two-tier freeway segment that killed 42 people during the afternoon rush hour on Oct. 17, 1989. Destruction of the 1 1/2-mile segment, which handled 165,000 vehicles daily, has hampered traffic in and out of Oakland’s busy port.

Residents, backed by health officials, criticized the original freeway route, noting that car exhaust fumes, particularly from leaded gasoline, contribute to more acute and chronic diseases, underweight babies and infant deaths in poor, predominantly black west Oakland than elsewhere in Alameda County.

The new route will move the freeway from the heart of the community, although health officials said exhaust fumes could still affect parts of the area.