The Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) voted yesterday to award the contract to upgrade a primary gateway to the Port of Oakland for truck and vehicle access to Ghilotti Construction Company, Inc. The 7th Street Grade Separation East Project will reconstruct and improve a primary trucking and access route into the Port, relieving truck and vehicle congestion, increasing safety and air quality, and providing additional flexibility for seaport cargo operations.
Forty percent of trucks access the Port of Oakland through 7th Street, making it a primary Port entrance. The 7th Street Grade Separation East Project will upgrade and widen the roadway to current design standards, while also upgrading the current bike and pedestrian pathway to connect with the Bay Trail and Middle Harbor Shoreline Park and meet today’s ADA and design standards. Among the other improvements, the project will reconstruct a more than 90-year old underpass that Union Pacific Railroad trains rely on to pass over 7th Street by increasing both vertical and horizontal clearances for trucks. State of the art information technology will also be added to improve traffic flow and goods movement including changeable message signs for trucks and other vehicles arriving at the Port, smart signals and radio frequency identification devices.
Alameda CTC will manage the project with financial and engineering support from the Port of Oakland. The contract awardee, Ghilotti Construction Company, Inc., is based in the Bay Area, has a local office in Alameda County and is employee-owned. The project will now move into the construction phase, with work anticipated to begin this summer. Additional information can be found on the 7th Street Grade Separation East Project fact sheet tab of the project webpage.
