Street Improvements: 12 Intersections – Oakland CA

Description

A project to improve pedestrian and vehicle safety at 12 intersections in the city of Oakland was undertaken with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which provided relief labor for the job. State funds came from a 1/4 cent gas tax. 

The improvements – called “traffic channelization” at the time – involved adding median strips, boulevard dividers, corner dividers, and so on.  Some of the work is still in place, but most of the intersections have been greatly altered or have even disappeared beneath freeways since the 1940s.

Frank C. Myers and John G. Marr designed the projects and City Engineer Walter N. Frickstad supervised. The work appears to have been carried out in 1939.

The 12 projects are located at the following intersections:

1. Broadway and Patton Street (now underneath Highway 24).
2. Grand Avenue and Harrison Street (extant)
3. Broadway and Landvale Road.
4. 55th Avenue and Camden Street.
5. Camden Street and Seminary Avenue.
6. Excelsior Avenue and Athol Avenue (now underneath Interstate 580).
7. Van Buren Avenue and Perry Street (now beneath Interstate 580).
8. Santa Clara Avenue and Grand Avenue.
9. 14th Avenue and East 12th Street.
10. 98th Avenue and San Leandro Street.
11. East 18th Street and Lakeshore Avenue (extant).
12. El Embarcadero, between Grand Avenue and Lakeshore Avenue (extant).