Why Keep I-580 Truck Free?
Oakland has been struck with an environmental and cultural dilemma involving its freeways. Historically, the corridor that I-580 runs along in Oakland had always held a restriction against commercial vehicles over a certain tonnage from using it. However in recent years, the ban has been brought again to the “table” for the sake of equity in Oakland. I, myself, still firmly believe in retaining this ban for a variety of reasons.
Before I reason why I support the ban, here is some history on the commercial vehicle restriction. Before the construction of Interstate 580 in Oakland, MacArthur Boulevard was the major thoroughfare near the Oakland Hills, serving multiple businesses and residential areas. After 1963, the City of Oakland approved the prohibition of commercial vehicles on the route. In 1965, a new section of Interstate 580 (formerly called Interstate 5W) in Oakland was opened to traffic use. Since the freeway was built right beside MacArthur Boulevard, it had grandfathered the ban against commercial vehicles. Finally, the ban was codified in the California Vehicle Code by the state legislative branch (see CVC Section 35655.5), making the ban permanent unless legislators would agree to repeal the assembly bill.
An argument for the ban can be attributed to a study conducted in 1967 by Caltrans, which was to find the feasibility of retaining the corridor’s commercial vehicle ban or removing the ban. The study found that there are sufficient routes that can be used by trucks in Oakland. The study found that truckers could use the Interstate 238 freeway and Interstate 880 freeway as an alternative to using the Interstate 580 corridor. According to the study, truck drivers could also utilize designated local streets that are dedicated as truck routes. This shows that to keep trucks banned has no negative consequences to truckers, and to lift the ban wouldn’t be needed and would be redundant to do so. I took it upon myself to calculate driving at 55 MPH (the legal max speed trucks can drive at in California) from the Interstate 238/580 interchange to the Oakland “Maze” interchange and found that taking Interstate 238 and 880 to the “Maze” is faster than taking Interstate 580. It takes 13.1 miles and a total of only 14 minutes of drive time. It takes 14.5 miles to get to the “Maze” by Interstate 580 and takes 15 minutes. Unless truckers were trying to make a local delivery, there is no rationale to travel on Interstate 580 for trucks!
Another argument against lifting the ban on Interstate 580, is that the freeway typically lacks sound walls in residential areas of the Oakland Hills due to the topography of the route. Meanwhile, Interstate 880 is lined with sound walls in residential areas. To have cars is loud enough for the residents, but to have trucks running down the freeway would be terrible for residents, due to the lack of sound walls. To make matters worse, Interstate 580 is primarily made out of Concrete until Grand Avenue in Oakland, while Interstate 880 is fully asphalt (excluding overpasses). According to Find-Noise Research document PL519P, it discovered that freeways made out of concrete are louder than those made of asphalt. This means that with the lack of sound walls, and the fact Interstate 580 is made of concrete, it would be extremely loud if trucks were allowed to traverse the freeway. It would cause a major uproar from the local communities and would make sleeping very difficult for residents. Thus, as Interstate 880 has many ways of reducing sound impact on communities, trucks should use Interstate 880 instead of Interstate 580.
Many counterarguments have been presented against keeping the ban. For instance, a lot of people utilize an emotional appeal of “equity” by Many arguments have been presented against keeping the ban. For instance, a lot of people utilize an emotional appeal of “equity” by saying the ban is classist because the Oakland Hills are richer and communities around I-880 are less rich. They then would reason that they want the ban to be lifted so residents around I-580 can also be in the same predicament. This is a selfish way of thinking because instead of trying to elevate one’s community by proposing solutions and fixing the problem itself, they try to drag other communities down by causing problems for them.
They try to attribute air pollution in the area caused by motor vehicles (specifically trucks) from I-880 to the problem. What opponents of the ban fail to realize is that Interstate 880 isn’t the sole source of pollution. It can also be attributed to the freight trains, the local industries, and the Port of Oakland itself with the emissions from the behemoth cargo ships. This is also a selfish way of thinking because instead of finding practical solutions to problems, they want to cause more problems for other communities. Instead of finding solutions like putting I-880 underground or adding vegetation to help collect dust, they want to broaden the issue to more communities.
To conclude, keeping Interstate 580 truck-free will continue to benefit the residents of the Oakland Hills, and hold up to the original agreement that residents and former residents fought hard for.
Works Cited:
Route 580 | Caltrans, “Special Route Restriction History — Route 580.” Dot.ca.gov. dot.ca.gov/programs/traffic-operations/legal-truck-access/restrict-route-580. Accessed 16 April 2024.
Find-Noise Research PL519P, “Noise Research: Concrete Pavement Findings.” Pavement Preservation.org. https://www.pavementpreservation.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Noise_Misinterpretations.pdf. Accessed 17 April 2024.
Image Credits:
“Macarthur Freeway” by Our Oakland. Source: https://localwiki.org/oakland/MacArthur_Freeway. CC BY-SA.
“Interstate 580 Eastbound General Douglas MacArthur Freeway approaches at Exit 25A — High Street this right exit followed by Exit 25B — MacArthur Blvd. Next Second Exit 1/4 = 0.25 Mile and Exit 26A — Seminary Avenue, State Highway Junction Route CA-13” by Raymond Yu. Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/raymonyu/49320929147/in/photostream/. Used with Permission.
“Macarthur Freeway” by Gene. Source: https://localwiki.org/oakland/MacArthur_Freeway. CC BY-SA.
