A group of participants in the 2015 Summer [IN]STITUTE's [IN]CITY cohort contributed research and recommendations to a transportation project that has caught the attention of Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf and her administration. 

The proposal is spearheaded by Connect Oakland, a small planning advocacy group with ties to CED that [IN]CITY academic lead Nicola Szibbo identified as a promising "client" for the student group. In close collaboration with Connect Oakland founder Christopher Sensenig (M.C.P. & M.Arch '05) and Jonathan Fearn (M.C.P. '01), the students (Aysegul Akturk, Alex Fox, Ivana Rosas, Carrie Sauer and Manali Sheth) studied the I-980 corridor and generated a policy document titled "Re-knitting Oakland: A study of I-980."

The proposal has garnered media attention from the San Francisco Chronicle, among other publications, with two articles by the urban design critic John King. The debate raging in the comments section of King's pieces, titled "Time to rethink I-980, spur that cuts through heart of Oakland" and "Oakland moving in right direction with idea to replace I-980" is a clear sign that the ideas driving the proposal have a strong impact on the daily experience of a wide swath of Bay Area residents.

Follow the evolution of this idea on Connect Oakland's blog.

Image: A conceptual rendering of how a boulevard might look in place of the Interstate 980 path that now separates downtown Oakland from West Oakland. This was done as part of the initial drafts of a downtown planning effort being done by the firm Dover, Kohl & Partners, and used ideas from the advocacy group Connect Oakland. credit: Kenneth Garcia, Dover, Kohl & Partners.