proposed park plan: process and next steps

Existing Site: Looking south at the historical buildings at the mole from elevated bike/ped path

Process

More than a decade ago, the Bay Bridge design team identified a unique opportunity to create a signature park at the touchdown of the new East Span of the Bay Bridge. Representatives of nine local, regional and state agencies embraced that idea and began to explore the possibilities of a new waterfront park.

The completion of the September 2012 Gateway Park Project Concept Report initiated a strategy for the park planning. A public scoping meeting in November 2013 helped launch the environmental review process, which will clear the park area programmatically for a range of park uses. In July 2014, the Gateway Park Working Group separated the SFOBB Oakland Bicycle-Pedestrian Connection (“The Link”) from the park project in order to advance its environmental review and ensure access to federal and state transportation funds for the pathway.

Existing Site: Looking east toward Port terminals and Oakland Hills

Next Steps

The Environmental Impact Review for the Gateway Park project should be completed by late 2015. A public meeting/park update may be held in early 2015. Further development of the park – including design and construction – would be phased as funding is identified.

The separation of the SFOBB Oakland Bicycle-Pedestrian Connection (“The Link”) from the Gateway Park project allows the pathway’s environmental documents to be completed more quickly, and then to initiate engineering and design for a construction start to the pathway in late 2016/early 2017.