DATE: August 27, 2025
TO: Council Infrastructure & Airport Committee
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT: Update on Interstate 880/A Street Interchange Improvement Project and Recommendation for Council to Authorize the City Manager to Execute an Agreement with Alameda County Transportation Commission to Advance the Project and Allocate $1,350,000 from Fund 212 (Measure BB Local Transportation) to the Project
RECOMMENDATION
That the Council Infrastructure & Airport Committee (CIAC) receives an update for the Interstate 880/A Street Interchange Improvement Project and provide a recommendation for Council to authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with Alameda County Transportation Commission (Alameda CTC) to advance the project and allocate $1,350,000 from Fund 212 (Measure BB Local Transportation) to the project.
SUMMARY
The City, in partnership with the Alameda CTC, and the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) propose to provide improvements at the Winton Avenue and A Street interchange along the Interstate 880 (I-880) corridor.
After the passage of the Alameda CTC 2014 Transportation Expenditure Plan in January 2014, the City requested that Alameda CTC begin advancing improvements at the A Street and Winton Avenue interchanges of I-880. Alameda CTC developed a Project Initiation Document (PID), led by Kimley Horn & Associates (Kimley Horn) that identified alternatives. More recently, Alameda CTC and the City selected a preferred alternative, shown in Attachment II, that would retain the existing five-lane configuration, improve safety on the ramps, and add two 12-foot-wide shared bicycle and pedestrian paths.
The Project is currently in the Project Approval and Environmental Document (PA&ED) phase. Completion of this phase requires Council action to allocate supplemental funding for the Plans, Specifications, and Estimates (PS&E) phase. Staff will also update the Metropolitan Transportation Commission’s (MTC) Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) project listing, which is required for environmental documents to be approved. The City of Hayward will be listed as the interim implementing agency for the PS&E phase with plans to transition the implementation responsibilities to Alameda CTC when a more detailed funding plan for construction is developed.
BACKGROUND
The City prepared a feasibility study for the I-880/Winton Avenue interchange in December 2015. Alameda CTC expanded upon the feasibility study and developed the Project Study Report-Project Development Support (PSR-PDS) for the I-880 Interchange Improvements (Winton Avenue and A Street) Project (Project), which was approved by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) in October 2019. The Project is currently in the PA&ED phase.
On May 25, 2021, Council reviewed and selected a preferred alternative for A Street and Winton Avenue. Council approved the following improvements Winton Avenue interchange – a partial cloverleaf design with signalized intersections at the ramps A Street interchange – retaining the diamond interchange design, with a wide sidewalks/multiuse paths installed bicycle/pedestrian path on A Street I-880 improvements – add auxiliary lanes between the two interchanges Council preferred an alternative for A Street that included a 6-lane cross section under the freeway with separate turn lanes for each of the I-880 on-ramps. However, after Caltrans’ review in 2022, this was deemed infeasible due to the inability to meet lane width requirements with 6 lanes; therefore, the existing five lane configuration was retained with added bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure (Attachment II).
DISCUSSION
Over the past several years, City staff have been working with Alameda CTC to identify a financial path forward for this project. The City currently has four interchanges on I-880 at various stages of design (Whipple Road, Industrial Parkway, Winton Avenue, and A Street), as well as the Clawiter Road interchange of State Route 92. Each of these projects require significant reconstruction of major interchanges that outstrip available resources for these types of projects. In addition, individual interchange projects require significant coordination and construction projects need to be spaced over time. Finally, general transportation priorities have shifted both for the City and for regional agencies and there is less funding available for major interchange and highway projects than there was when these projects were first identified.
The City does have access to a funding source that is dedicated to improvements on nearby freeways. As part of the cancellation of the Route 238 Bypass, the funding for that project, as well as the revenue from the sales of excess state-owned properties , was placed into a Local Alternative Transportation Improvement Program (LATIP). This funding must follow specific requirements established by State law, including a specific list of projects that were established through a multiagency agreement between the City of Hayward, Alameda County, the City of San Leandro, and Alameda CTC. The Council approved the project list on July 24, 2007, which was subsequently approved by the California Transportation Commission. The LATIP project list that was approved by the California Transportation Commission in 2010 is included as Attachment III.
Given the costs of the projects identified in the LATIP, the program could contribute to two to three interchange projects. Because the priorities for LATIP were established under the initial agreement, any change to the agreement, the project list, or the order in which projects are completed would require action of the State legislature and agreement among the initial partners to the agreement, which could lead to unexpected outcomes.
Based on the LATIP agreement and status of projects on the list, the next two projects that can be constructed with this funding are the Industrial Parkway interchange, including adding the missing northbound off ramp, and the A Street/Winton Avenue interchanges, including completing the auxiliary lanes between the two interchanges. Staff are proposing to advance the A Street portion of this project as the first constructable segment, with additional changes to Winton Avenue and the mainline addressed at a future date. The interchange improvements need to be constructed before the auxiliary lanes can be added.
Currently the Project is in the PA&ED phase. A California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Initial Study with Proposed Negative Declaration was prepared by Caltrans in cooperation with Alameda CTC and City of Hayward in May 2022. Similarly, National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) documentation will be prepared by Caltrans. Although environmental documents have been publicly circulated, the project cannot advance to the design phase unless it receives NEPA approval from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). FHWA approval of NEPA requires commitment of funds to be shown for the PS&E phase in the MTC’s TIP listing for the project and the TIP listing will need to be updated.
One additional requirement to update the project’s TIP listing is to designate an Implementing Agency for the PS&E phase. Alameda CTC staff has notified the City that they could not be listed as the Implementing Agency for the PS&E phase, even if that were the City’s preference, until a funding plan for construction is better defined. This includes providing information on the certainty regarding the revenue from sales of LATIP properties that would be available for construction, a backup funding plan if LATIP funding would not be available in time for construction, and commitment that the City will continue to participate in Project Sponsor responsibilities through construction. City staff recommends that the City be listed as the interim Implementing Agency to meet the deadline to update the TIP listing and to continue working with Alameda CTC staff to provide clarity on construction funding so that the City’s interim Implementing Agency status can be transitioned to Alameda CTC.
The A Street interchange improvements are the most feasible elements of the A Street/Winton Avenue project. It will address safety at the I880 on and off ramps and will create improved pedestrian and bicycle connectivity under the freeway. The construction for this project can be fully funded using LATIP funds with the City contributing totaling not-to-exceed amount of $1,350,000 towards the total $4,000,000 needed to develop plans, specifications, and estimates.
Given the challenge of advancing both the A Street and Winton Avenue interchanges at the same time, Alameda CTC and the City have proposed advancing the A Street interchange as the most feasible path to moving this project forward and has received Caltrans concurrence on this phased approach. Further delays by not receiving Caltrans project approval in a timely manner may subject the project to unforeseen changes to federal and state requirements and may put the environmental documentation at risk. The current action would authorize the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Alameda CTC to commit the required funds to receive Caltrans project approval and advance to the PS&E phase for the A Street portion of the project.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
This item has no direct economic impact. The current action will help fund the design effort. The future project will have safety and multimodal connectivity benefits, that will have small reductions in health care costs due to reduced risk of traffic collisions.
FISCAL IMPACT
This item does not impact the General Fund. The $1,350,000 City contribution needed for this PS&E phase of the project would be drawn from Fund 212, Measure BB – Local Transportation.
Funding for construction is anticipated to be drawn from the Route 238 LATIP. The LATIP account receives revenues based on the selling of Route 238 properties. Most of the projects in the LATIP are on I-880, though it also includes the City’s Mission Boulevard project. Per the approved agreement, the A Street project can receive up to $27.7 million in LATIP funding, which has a total construction cost estimate of approximately $20 million, though that may increase given recent increases in construction costs. The City is also working with Alameda CTC to identify any potential grant funding that could also be leveraged to enable the LATIP funding to be used for additional projects. Depending on the City’s ability to secure additional funding, improvements may also be possible at Winton Avenue.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item provides general support for the Strategic Priority of Invest in Infrastructure: Invest in Infrastructure.
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
This project includes safety improvements that benefit all modes of travel, including completing a gap in the City’s bicycle network on A Street under I-880, which may facilitate increased use of these modes of transportation.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public outreach for this project was conducted throughout the development of the preferred alternatives and prior to Council’s selection of a preferred alternative in 2021.
Alameda CTC and City staff held multiple stakeholder meetings comprised of business owners, Southland Mall management, residents, interested community members, and bicycle advocates throughout the development of the PSR-PDS document.
NEXT STEPS
If approved by CIAC, staff will present the item to Council for their approval for the City Manager to execute a funding agreement with Alameda CTC for the City to contribute $1,350,000 to the PS&E phase of the I-880 A Street Interchange Project. Table 1 identifies the tentative schedule for the project.
Table 1. I-880 A Street Interchange Timeline (Tentative) Expected Completion Date
Complete PA&ED
June 2026
PS&E
December 2027
Construction
2028-2030
Prepared by: Byron Tang, Principal Transportation Engineer Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works
Approved by:
Jayanti Addleman, Interim City Manager
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