Strobridge Interchange Questions
The new interchange from Eastbound I-580 to Strobridge Avenue appears to be nearing completion. Most barricades have been removed, and crews appear to be in cleanup mode. Still, four questions remain in Your Boulevardier's mind about the project. They are, in no particular order:
How will the odd patch of earth between the freeway and the onramp be maintained? One finds it hard to believe that a crew will get way up there regularly with a lawnmower to tend the narrow strip. Your Boulevardier is no fan of pavement, but it would make sense in this case to not make the area a haven for unwanted vegation.
Will CalTrans remove the fences that run along both sides of Strobridge Avenue under the freeway? It can't be argued that the fence on the west side keeps anyone out, since it stops abruptly on the south side of the underpass with no gate or structure to close the end. For now, all the fence does is collect trash, and it's very rarely cleaned out.
What will happen to the CalTrans corporation yard on the north side of the underpass? Like the aforementioned fence, the yard is an unmaintained haven for trash. Illegal dumping occurs regularly, and many piles of construction materials and debris remain there as well.
What is the purpose of the metal box at the top of the onramp? Will it be relocated, and if so will the temporary barricades and sand barrels around it be removed?
Maintenance of this offramp has long been neglected by CalTrans. Indeed, one of Your Boulevardier's neighbors left the Baywood District because (among other things) he felt the area gave a slumlike first impression, what with the litter and ill-kept homes along Strobridge Avenue. (And, perhaps ironically, this person drove a garbage truck.)
Labels: CalTrans, cars, construction, highways, litter, pollution, real estate, safety, traffic, upkeep
posted by Your Boulevardier @ 8:50 PM
5 Comments
5 Comments:
How about flowering iceplant to cover the odd patch of earth? It's low maintenance and next to impossible to burn. I see it on the slopes over I-580 from San Leandro to Oakland. It's also on the slopes surrounding the Oakland Coliseum. As for the walls, I'd like to see some sort of flowering vine planted to grow over them. I believe they will soon be covered with graffiti otherwise.
Excellent journalism here.
Back in the 1960s I used to deliver the Daily Review along Strobridge. It was a bunch of old farmhouses and diseased apartment blocks. That's all wiped out now.
There was one apartment building near Redwood Road we used to call "Cinnamon and Pee." Because, well, that's what it smelled like for reasons I probably don't want to know.
Then there was this other guy who had a huge mean dog tethered to an old truck motor. He wanted his paper right on his porch, which meant that I had to get past the angry dog, which would go into a frenzy and literally drag this enormous engine block after it, trying to get at the 89-pound paperboy. "He won't hurt you," the guy said, but the dog's bared teeth indicated otherwise. Eventually I refused to go there any more.
'Tis a shame to come into CV and have such a first impression. I wonder that the civic minded leaders or perhaps a beautification committee hasn't seen to it.
I think that part of CV falls under "out of sight, out of mind." I don't get that part of CV very often but i do see your point in how messy it looks. It should be cleaned up.
All I've ever seen the beautification committee clean up is the boulevard.
If they take away the fence, where will I throw my empty McDonalds crap?
Just kidding, I hate litter.
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