Grand Avenue Complete Streets Paving Project

• Project TypeTransportation
• Start DateNovember, 2024
• Project StatusIn Process

The City is engaged in detailed design for the Grand Avenue Project, with Final Designs expected in early 2026

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About

Project Update September 2025:

OakDOT has received Final Concept Design plans for the Grand Avenue Project!  These plan drawings, also called "35% Design Plans" are available via link to the right.  This is an important design milestone as it is the last chance to make geometric changes to the plans before the project moves into Detailed Design.  OakDOT will be showcasing these plans to the Grand Avenue community throughout the Fall of 2025 to answer questions about the proposed designs and take targeted feedback on specific design elements.  

Fulfilling Oakland’s commitment to voters who ratified Measure U in 2022, this Paving Coordination project is working to expediently improve roadway safety with our bond dollars. Paving projects can make major changes to improve safety like restriping the roadway to realign lanes and installing concrete elements including bikeway separation islands, pedestrian safety islands, and bus boarding islands. It is not feasible for paving projects to perform traffic signal modifications, change drainage infrastructure, or make other major alterations that require complex civil engineering design (for instance widening sidewalks or altering the grade of the roadway). By following these guidelines, OakDOT is seeking to reduce the project delivery timeline to 2-3 years for major streetscape improvements, compared to 8 to 15 years for a typical major capital project.  

The 35% plans for this project include the following elements which will improve safety and access for all roadway users through the heart of some of Oakland’s most active commercial and residential corridors:

• 2.2 lane-miles of fully physically separated curbside bike lanes, separated from moving traffic by concrete islands, concrete wheel stops, and parked cars
• Two segments of two-way bike path (Bay Place to Bellevue Ave West, and Bellevue Ave East to El Embarcadero) which, in coordination with other OakDOT projects, move forward the vision of a complete two-way bike path around Lake Merritt
• 13 new pedestrian refuge islands to facilitate safe pedestrian crossings to bus stops, Lakeside Park, residential neighborhoods, and commercial destinations
• 10 new bus boarding islands with new bus canopies and benches to provide safe, accessible spaces for transit patrons and to improve bus reliability and speeds
• Other traffic-calming and roadway safety improvements including lane reductions, lane narrowing, sightline improvements, loading zones to decrease double-parking, and more – all targeted at slowing traffic and creating calm streets around Lake Merritt and commercial corridors
• Redesigned intersections, including extensive pedestrian safety improvements at the intersection of Grand Ave/Santa Clara/Lake Park which will reduce the size of that central Grand Lake intersection and improve safety for people connecting to the Grand Lake District
• Improved ADA-accessible curb ramps at all intersections along the project (17 intersections, approximately 68 improved curb ramps). 

Please note that these plans are still subject to change based on comments from internal and external stakeholders.  

Project Update July 2025:

OakDOT is engaged in design work for the Grand Avenue corridor from Broadway to Mandana Blvd.  This project will remove one lane of westbound vehicle travel on Grand Avenue between El Embarcadero and Bay Place.  This project will install physically-separated bike lanes on Grand Avenue between Webster Street and Santa Clara Avenue/Lake Park Avenue - 2.2 one-way lane miles of new fully separated bike lanes connected East Oakland and Downtown!  This project will also install pedestrian refuge islands, bus boarding islands, and other roadway features to calm vehicle traffic and provide safer crossings for pedestrians.  See below for a list of outreach events conducted in Spring 2025 and upcoming design activities.  OakDOT is expected 35% plans for the project in early August 2025 and will email those out to our email list and conduct stakeholder outreach with businesses and resident groups on Grand to continue to refine the project plans.  

2025 Outreach and Design Timeline. (Please join our mailing list via the yellow button above!):

• March 20:  City of Oakland Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commission Presentation
• April 2, 2025:  Presentation to the Grand Avenue Business Association
• April 26, 2025:  Grand Lake Farmer's Market tabling event
• May 12, 2025:  Presentation to Adams Point Neighbors
• May 21, 2025:  Presentation to Grand Lake Neighbors
• June 4, 2025:  Presentation to Grand Avenue Business Assoc.
• July 16, 2025:  35% Plans Presentation to Grand Lake Neighbors
• September 8, 2025:  Presentation to Adams Point Neighbors
• September 17, 2025:  Presentation to Grand Lake Neighbors
• Summer/Fall 2025:  35% Plan outreach to community stakeholders and local businesses
• November 2025:  65% Plans
• ~February 2026:  100% Plans

Project update (November 2024): OakDOT has entered into a contract with Wood Rodgers, Inc, an engineering design consultant who will be taking the design of the Grand Avenue Complete Streets Paving Project through to 100% design and construction. OakDOT is very excited to restart public engagement and design on this project, building off the previous work done from 2022 through early 2024. The first phase of work will be traffic data collection and a road diet analysis to study the potential of reducing vehicle travel lanes on Grand Avenue to accommodate safety improvements for all roadway users. OakDOT will conduct a public outreach process in early 2025 to work with the community to come to a final decision related to the future roadway configuration of the three main segments of the Grand Avenue Project: Uptown (Broadway to Harrison), Adams Point (Bay Place to MacArthur), and the Grand Lake Business District (Santa Clara to Mandana). If you have not already done so, please sign up for email updates for the project via the green button at the top of this page to stay in the loop on this project.

Project Background

Grand Avenue from Broadway to MacArthur is set to be repaved by the City of Oakland's Measure U-funded paving program.

Grand Avenue in this neighborhood also acts as a bypass or cut-through route for drivers avoiding traffic on I580, and is on the City's Bicycle and Pedestrian High Injury Network—the 6% of City streets that account for over 60% of severe and fatal collisions. How can OakDOT leverage this paving project to improve safety and access for people walking, biking, and taking the bus?  Project improvements could include:

• Pedestrian crossing improvements (pedestrian refuge islands, new crosswalks, etc.)
• Transit improvements to improve reliability of the bus, building off the recommendations of AC Transit's Grand Ave Rapid Corridors Project
• Protected bike lane treatments to separate people biking from motor vehicle traffic
• Traffic calming to slow vehicle traffic
• Curb management to address loading and operational needs
• Roadway re-striping to reconfigure travel and/or turning lanes