Freeway construction on I-880 just north of the Park Street Bridge will begin affecting traffic in July, the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announced last week.  Caltrans said that it awarded contacts for the project in April. The contractors will replace two existing freeway overcrossings at 23rd Avenue along with the overcrossing at 29th Avenue. 
These overcrossings funnel traffic into and out of the maze of streets just across the Park Street Bridge from Alameda. In addition the department has approved and awarded contacts to proceed with safety improvements to the onramps connected to these overcrossings and to construct a sound wall on the north side of the freeway between 29th and 23th avenues. 
The first stage of construction will involve the sound wall, Caltrans said. “The construction phase of this project is anticipated to occur over a four to five year period and will be constructed within five major phases,” Virendra Patel,  the city’s transportation engineer, stated in a March 26 report. According to Patel, each phase of the project, which the Alameda County Transportation Commission (ACTC) developed, will involve several short-term and some long-term term traffic detours.