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Drivers in the East Bay are complaining about increased traffic and frequent accidents near the I-580 and I-680 interchange, but KTVU has learned that relief may still be years away.
Tess Lengyel with Alameda County Transportation Commission says voters approved $20 million for projects to address the mess.
“We are about to embark on a study to really determine what its final design should look like and what the construction costs would be for that project,” Lengyel said. But she admits that it could take years for the studies, planning, and construction to actually be completed.
“One single project isn't going to solve all the transportation issues in the Bay Area,” Lengyel said. “We are working on a whole suite of projects. We are working on the 680 northbound lanes right now and we just opened the 580 express lanes. And we're seeing people having 20 to 30 minutes savings in those lanes.”
Still, drivers tell KTVU that the cloverleaf design of the interchange itself seems to be contributing to the problems. Drivers merge quickly into one lane while entering or exiting the 680, weaving between incoming and outgoing traffic.
“That interchange is just a disaster because you have that turn coming up and you've got people who want to switch sides and it's just always an accident there,” said Del Miller of Concord.
KTVU has found multiple examples of deadly or dangerous crashes reported at the interchange, including a BMW that was rear-ended by a big rig, causing a deadly chain reaction and vehicle fire.
Caltrans says they are keeping an eye on the traffic situation at the interchange.
“There's currently a bottleneck going from westbound 580 going down 680 that we are aware of and we are monitoring that,” said Caltrans’ Alameda County spokesman Marcus Wagner.
Over the past decade, this busy stretch of highway saw a peak in accidents in 2006 and 2007, while the economy was surging and more workers were on the roads. According to CHP records, there were 114 crashes at the interchange in 2006, and 141 crashes in 2007. Those numbers dropped during the economic downturn in 2008.
So far this year, CHP reports 72 accidents at the 580/680 interchange. But with the economy in another upswing, some drivers worry those numbers could climb once again. Especially, since several Tri-Valley communities have plans in place to add more homes to an already booming region.
“The corridor is very busy because it’s something that brings the whole Central Valley to the Bay Area,” said CHP officer Derek Reed, “so all we're seeing is increased traffic because there's so many homes popping up.”
The city of Dublin plans to add 2,000 more households by 2021. Nearby Pleasanton is looking to increase household numbers by 1,500 more homes before 2022.
“You create more housing, where are those people going to go?” asked commuter Annamarie Traver of Menlo Park.
Lengeyl says some small relief could be coming with the small lane expansion projects in the pipeline, but a complete redesign is not in the works, and many drivers said they don’t believe major changes would be economical or feasible anyways.
“They can't expand the lanes anymore. There's not enough room,” said Miller. “They're going to have to go multi-level like they did in Oakland I think. They're just going to have to start stacking a freeway on top of a freeway to handle the load because it's not going to get any better.”
A new study on Bay Area traffic released Thursday found that 5.3-percent of people in the Bay Area drive by themselves to work, 90 minutes or longer one way. The study also notes that gridlock is only expected to get worse in the future.
By KTVU reporter Alayana Gomez.