Semi trucks have not been allowed on Oakland’s I-580 in 74 years, as big rigs have had to take I-880 instead. Caltrans is considering undoing that policy, and everyone who lives anywhere near either interstate has an opinion about it.

For the last 74 years, semi trucks have not been allowed on a roughly ten-mile stretch of Oakland’s Interstate 580 (or technically, vehicles of more than 4.5 tons cannot drive on I-580 between Oakland’s Grand Avenue near Lake Merritt and San Leandro, with exceptions for buses and shuttles). It was a move designed to alleviate air pollution, congestion, and noise, and big rigs have the parallel, alternate path of I-880 which is closer to Okaland’s warehouse and industrial district, keeping trucks off the hillier and more suburban setting of I-580. The two nearby routes can be seen below.

But now the Chronicle reports that Caltrans is considering allowing semi trucks back on I-580, where they have not driven in three quarters of a century. The proposal was spurred by something called the 2019 West Oakland Community Action Plan that advocates for cleaner air and lower emissions in West Oakland. But at a Caltrans virtual meeting this month, about 400 people logged in and those who live near I-580 were extremely unenthusiastic about the idea.

“People at the meeting were talking about how these big commercial vehicles would tear up the roads, how the exits aren’t big enough for them to get through,” Castro Valley resident Hiro Makino told the Chronicle “I think everyone was generally aligned in their opposition.”

But some say the segregation of trucks to only I-880 is a legacy symbol of environmental racism, shifting smog and noise away from wealthier suburbs and toward what were more heavily Black and Latino communities. One former East Oakland science teacher says his class put respirators on their desk in an attempt to prove the air near their school was dirtier.

“If we don’t have the intellectual curiosity to understand our racist past, I don’t see how we’ll make progress as a society,” that former teacher Patrick Messac said to the Chronicle.

Though in fairness, as the Chronicle notes, the I-580 corridor is much more ethnically diverse now than it was in the 1950s when these policies were formulated. And some residents fear this would just be a giant sop to the trucking industry, who would simply clog both interstates with more trucks, increasing pollution and noise for everyone.

“There are probably people who think this [change] would bring trucks off of 880,” former mayor of San Leandro mayor Stephen Cassidy told the Chronicle. “My overarching concern is that it would merely increase the total number of trucks” on both 580 and 880.

To be clear, any change here would take years to happen. Caltrans would do a ton of studies on noise, air quality, wear-and-tear, and there would be a zillion public meetings. Moreover, Caltrans does not even have the authority to make these decisions — such a change could only come from a bill in the state legislature, a bill which would not exist until Caltrans completes their years-long recommendation work.

But there is a movement afoot to bring semi trucks to ten miles of I-580, and right now, that movement has just shifted into first gear.

Related: CHP Investigates Thursday Shooting on I-580 in Oakland, Seeking Information From Public [SFist]

Image: EMERYVILLE, CA - APRIL 30: Traffic is seen backed up on westbound Interstate 80 approaching a closed section of Interstate 580 April 30, 2007 in Emeryville, California. The closure comes after a gasoline-laden tanker truck yesterday overturned on a freeway transition road sending flames 200 feet into the air, weakening the steel supporting a connector road above. About 250 feet of the connector road collapsed under the stress. The driver walked away from the accident. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)