Interstate 580 in California

Interstate 580 or I -580 is an Interstate Highway in the U.S. state of California. The highway forms an east-west route in the San Francisco Bay Area metropolitan area, passing through several major cities, including San Rafael, Richmond, Berkeley, and Oakland. The highway is one of the major access roads between the metropolitan area and the national highway network, primarily Interstate 5 and Interstate 80. The highway goes by various names, such as the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, JT Knox Freeway, McArthur Freeway, and Castro Valley Freeway. The highway is 129 kilometers long.

Travel directions

The Richmond-San Rafael Bridge.

I-580 over the Altamont Pass.

According to topschoolsintheusa.com, the highway begins at US 101 in San Rafael, a suburb of San Francisco. Heading southeast, it crosses the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, a toll bridge over San Pablo Bay. This bridge is nearly 9 kilometers long, and the toll is $4, westbound only. This bridge is double-decked and has 2×2 lanes. One ends up on the east bank, in the suburb of Richmond, which has 103,000 inhabitants. Here the highway has 2×3 lanes when crossing Richmond. At Berkeley, I-580 merges with Interstate 80, the Eastshore Freeway. The roads are then double-numbered until Oakland, where I-80 heads toward San Francisco, I-880 heads straight to San Jose, and I-580 heads southeast, through Oakland. This junction is known as the MacArthur Maze. There are 2×5 lanes through Oakland. North of downtown, one intersects SR-24, which leads to Walnut Creek, and I-980, a short highway through downtown Oakland. After this, the highway has 2×4 lanes. Oakland is one of the larger cities of the metropolitan area with 415,000 inhabitants.

One crosses this large city, the highway here is called the MacArthur Freeway. In the east of the city ends SR-13, the Warren Freeway, which runs north from Oakland. After this you arrive in the suburb of San Leandro, which has 81,000 inhabitants. In Castro Valley, I-580 turns east, intersecting I-238, which runs west to San Lorenzo and I-880. Castro Valley is not a city, and is administered by Alameda County, and has a population of 57,000. Here the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) runs in the median strip. After Castro Valley you pass through an uninhabited mountain area, which continues for about 10 kilometres, before entering the suburb of Dublin, which has a population of 50,000. South of the highway is Pleasanton, a suburb of 70,000 people. Here one crosses Interstate 680, which forms an eastern bypass of the metropolitan area. I-580 is quite wide here, with 2×5 lanes. The last suburb is Livermore, with 82,000 inhabitants.

After this you enter the Diablo Range, a desert-like mountain area, which you cross via the 308 meter high Altamont Pass. A little further on, Interstate 205 exits toward Tracy, Stockton, and Sacramento. I-580 turns south, ending at the hamlet of Vernalis on Interstate 5 toward Los Angeles.

History

The first section of I-580 to be built was the dual numbering with Interstate 80 between Richmond and Oakland, the first sections of which opened as early as 1936. On September 1, 1956, the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, a 8.9-kilometer long bridge spanning San Pablo Bay in the north of the metropolitan area, was opened. This was not yet part of I-580 at the time. The highway from Oakland to Castro Valley was built in the 1960s, the section in Oakland opened in 1965. The route eastwards was built over the older US 50, until it splits with I-205 towards Stockton. This section opened in the late 1960s and early 1970s, connecting the San Francisco metropolitan area with I-5 toward Los Angeleswas connected. Between 1987 and 1991, the final section in Richmond was built up to the Richmond – San Rafael Bridge, creating a through bypass from the eastern suburbs to the northern suburbs. In 1984, the northern section was numbered I-580, before that it was State Route 17.

The route over the San Leandro Hills east of Castro Valley was completely redeveloped between 1986 and 1990 for the construction of BART’s Dublin/Pleasanton–Daly City line. The highway has also been widened to 2×4 lanes. Virtually no artwork between Castro Valley and Pleasanton from the original highway remains intact.

Opening history

San Rafael – Richmond

Oakland – Tracy

Express Lanes

In 2015-2016, express lanes were built on I-580 between the interchange with I-680 in Pleasanton and Greenville Road in eastern Livermore. This involved a conversion of the existing HOV lane into a toll lane. Towards east there are two toll lanes, towards west one toll lane. The toll lanes are 17 kilometers long. The toll lanes are administered by the Alameda County Transport Commission. The toll lanes were inaugurated on 19 and 22 February 2016.

Traffic intensities

The I-80/I-580 fork at Albany.

Truck ban

Truck traffic has not been allowed on I-580 in Oakland since 1963 after protests by local authorities. This was originally a temporary ban until 1968, but was extended every year until 1972, after which it was decided that the ban no longer needed to be renewed annually and thus became permanent. Interstate 580 in Oakland is the only Interstate Highway in the country that does not allow truck traffic.

Freight traffic has to divert over parallel I-880, which is severely congested by the amount of freight traffic, with 23,500 trucks per day in 2011.