The Cypress Street Viaduct, often referred to as the Cypress Structure or the Cypress Freeway, was a 1.6-mile-long (2.5 km), raised two-deck, multi-lane (four lanes per tier) freeway constructed of reinforced concrete that was originally part of the Nimitz Freeway (
State Route 17, and later,
Interstate 880) in
Oakland, California
Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...
.
It replaced an earlier single-deck
viaduct
A viaduct is a specific type of bridge that consists of a series of arches, piers or columns supporting a long elevated railway or road. Typically a viaduct connects two points of roughly equal elevation, allowing direct overpass across a wide v ...
constructed in the 1930s as one of the approaches to the
San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge
The San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, known locally as the Bay Bridge, is a complex of bridges spanning San Francisco Bay in California. As part of Interstate 80 in California, Interstate 80 and the direct road between San Francisco and Oakland ...
. It was located along Cypress Street between 7th Street and
Interstate 80
Interstate 80 (I-80) is an east–west transcontinental freeway that crosses the United States from downtown San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey, in the New York metropolitan area. The highway was designated in 1956 as one o ...
in the
West Oakland
West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland, California, United States, situated west of Downtown Oakland, south of Emeryville, and north of Alameda. The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the Po ...
neighborhood.
It officially opened to traffic on June 11, 1957, and was in use until October 17, 1989. At approximately 5:04 p.m. that day,
a magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck the Bay Area, resulting in a large portion of the freeway's upper deck collapsing onto the lower deck. The collapse killed 42 people and resulted in the subsequent demolition of the structure.
The
Cypress Freeway Memorial Park is located in Oakland, at 14th Street and
Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...
Parkway.
Construction
The double-decked viaduct was initially designed in 1949 by the City of Oakland as a way to ease traffic on local streets leading to the Bay Bridge, such as Cypress Street (which was California State Route 17 at the time). The route was partially chosen to displace perceived slums in
West Oakland
West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland, California, United States, situated west of Downtown Oakland, south of Emeryville, and north of Alameda. The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the Po ...
.
The southernmost portion of the Cypress Street viaduct, which was designed as a central off ramp structure exiting at Market Street between Fifth and Sixth Streets to the Eighth Street/Seventh Street on/off ramps, was the first phase of the overall project completed in October 1955, by contractors Frederickson and Watson at a cost of $1.7 million. Construction on the second phase of the project, the double-decked viaduct portion (which started from Adeline Street in the south to the
MacArthur Maze
The MacArthur Maze (or simply the Maze, also called the Distribution Structure) is a large freeway interchange near the east end of the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge in Oakland, California. It splits Bay Bridge traffic into three freeways— ...
in the north), began in February 1956 by contractors Grove, Wilson, Shepard and Kruge at a cost of $8.3 million, bringing the total cost of the viaduct project to $10 million.
It was California's first double-decked freeway when it officially opened to traffic on June 11, 1957.
Loma Prieta earthquake
On October 17, 1989, the portion of the structure from 16th Street north all the way to the MacArthur Maze collapsed during the
1989 Loma Prieta earthquake
The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on California's Central Coast on October 17 at local time. The shock was centered in The Forest of Nisene Marks State Park in Santa Cruz County, approximately northeast of Santa Cruz on a section of t ...
, due to ground movement and structural flaws.
![Cypress collapsed](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Cypress_collapsed.jpg)
When in use, the upper deck was used by southbound traffic, and the lower deck was used by northbound traffic. Some sections of the Cypress Street Viaduct were largely supported by two columns on either side, but some sections were only supported beneath by a single supporting column. The design was unable to survive the earthquake because the upper portions of the exterior columns were not tied by reinforcing to the lower columns, and the columns were not sufficiently ringed to prevent bursting (similar to
Hanshin Expressway
The is a network of expressways surrounding Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, Japan. Operated by , it opened in 1962.
Portions of the Hanshin Expressway about east of Fukae Station collapsed during the Kobe earthquake on 17 January 1995. These section ...
in Kobe, Japan). At the time of its design, such structures were not analyzed as a whole, and it appears that large structure motion contributed to the collapse. It was built on filled land on top of bay clay; filled land is highly susceptible to soil settlement during an
earthquake
An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...
, and bay clay exhibits larger
ground motion
Ground motion is the movement of the earth's surface from earthquakes or explosions. Ground motion is produced by seismic waves that are generated by sudden slip on a fault or sudden pressure at the explosive source and travel through the earth a ...
. A little bit of earthquake reinforcement was added to the Cypress Street Viaduct in 1977.
After the earthquake stopped (with no aftershock), local residents and workers began crawling into and climbing upon the shattered structure with the goal of rescuing those left alive. Many were saved, some only by amputation of trapped limbs. The collapse of the upper tier onto the lower tier resulted in 42 fatalities—while this represented two-thirds of the total quake death toll of 63,
it was a magnitude lower than initially feared; with
San Francisco and Oakland in the World Series, many would-be commuters in both cities had left work early or stayed late to watch the upcoming Game 3, and as a result traffic on the viaduct was far lighter at the time of the quake than it normally would have been.
After the viaduct was torn down, Cypress Street was renamed Mandela Parkway, in honor of
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...
, and a landscaped median strip was planted where the viaduct once stood. Before reconstruction occurred, the viaduct ended at the 7th Street exit on the southern end, with the two roadways going over 7th Street, while the southbound exit off the MacArthur Maze onto Cypress Street at 32nd Street remained open to local traffic on the northern end.
Reconstruction around West Oakland
![Cypress Freeway Memorial Park](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Cypress_Freeway_Memorial_Park.JPG)
In 1997, the Nimitz Freeway was rerouted to loop around the area using a largely ground-level design with more conventional single-level viaduct. The space was mainly taken from a railroad yard which was relocated. The exit at 8th Street was eliminated, a southbound exit near 7th and Union Street and a single northbound and southbound exit at 7th Street, near the Port of Oakland was constructed also providing access via Frontage Road to West Grand Avenue and the Oakland Army Base on Maritime Street, before a viaduct-type interchange splitting traffic to the Bay Bridge via Grand Avenue and also northbound to the
Eastshore Freeway
Interstate 80 (I-80) is a transcontinental Interstate Highway in the United States, stretching from San Francisco, California, to Teaneck, New Jersey. The segment of I-80 in California runs east from San Francisco across the San Franciscoâ ...
. This also realigned the ramp from I-80 west to I-580 east/I-880 south which fully completed the Cypress Freeway Realignment in 2001.
During construction of the new section of the Nimitz Freeway, a team of archaeologists made many interesting discoveries about the people who lived in
West Oakland
West Oakland is a neighborhood situated in the northwestern corner of Oakland, California, United States, situated west of Downtown Oakland, south of Emeryville, and north of Alameda. The neighborhood is located along the waterfront at the Po ...
in the 19th century.
Due to cost overruns, the costs of the replacement freeway doubled from initial estimates of $650 million to $1.2 billion ($250 million per mile) making the five-mile freeway replacement the most expensive project in the state's history at the time. (It would be subsequently overshadowed by the northbound addition of the
Benicia–Martinez Bridge
The Benicia–Martinez Bridge refers to three parallel bridges which cross the Carquinez Strait just west of Suisun Bay in California; the spans link Benicia on the north side with Martinez on the south.
The original deck truss bridge opened i ...
and the
.) The cost overruns were mainly due to the opposition to replacing the highway on the site of the one partially destroyed in 1989, therefore requiring the purchase of land and property from
Southern Pacific Railroad
The Southern Pacific (or Espee from the railroad initials- SP) was an American Class I railroad network that existed from 1865 to 1996 and operated largely in the Western United States. The system was operated by various companies under the ...
and
Amtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
(moving part of the rail yard, which in turn caused the earthquake-damaged
16th Street Amtrak Station to be closed and replaced with two Amtrak stations in
Jack London Square
Jack London Square is an entertainment and business destination on the waterfront of Oakland, California, United States. Named after the author Jack London and owned by the Port of Oakland, it is the home of stores, restaurants, hotels, Amtrak ...
and
Emeryville Emeryville may refer to:
* Emeryville, California
Emeryville is a city located in northwest Alameda County, California, in the United States. It lies in a corridor between the cities of Berkeley and Oakland, with a border on the shore of San ...
), the
United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for providing postal service in the U ...
(having to replace a parking lot with a parking garage), and the
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
(the new route went through the
Oakland Army Base
The Oakland Army Base, also known as the Oakland Army Terminal, is a decommissioned United States Army base in the San Francisco Bay Area of California. The base was located at the Port of Oakland on Maritime Street just south of the eastern entran ...
),
as well as replacing
BART
Bart is a masculine given name, usually a diminutive of Bartholomew, sometimes of Barton, Bartolomeo, etc.
Bart is a Dutch and Ashkenazi Jewish surname, and derives from the name ''Bartholomäus'', a German form of the biblical name ''Barthol ...
support beams.
Exit list
Gallery
Image:LomaPrieta-CypressStructure-failed-column.jpeg, Due to improper design of rebar
Rebar (short for reinforcing bar), known when massed as reinforcing steel or reinforcement steel, is a steel bar used as a Tension (physics), tension device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures to strengthen and aid the concr ...
placement, the support columns broke with ease, sending the structure down.
Photo by H.G. Wilshire, USGS
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...
Image:022srUSGSCyprusVia.jpg, The collapsed Cypress Street Viaduct seen from ground level. Note the detachment of upper vertical elements from lower and the lack of reinforcement at the point of detachment.
Image:Cypress structure.jpeg, Portion of the collapsed Cypress Street Viaduct after the Loma Prieta earthquake; the collapse resulted in 42 fatalities.
Image:LomaPrietaOaklandHighwayNakata7ct.jpg, A pile of rebar and concrete from the collapsed Cypress Street Viaduct
Image:FEMA - 261 - Photograph by FEMA News Photo taken on 10-01-1989 in California.jpg, Rep. Pete Stark
Fortney Hillman Stark Jr. (November 11, 1931 – January 24, 2020), known as Pete Stark, was an American businessman and politician who was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1973 to 2013. A Democrat from California, St ...
, Mayor
In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...
Lionel J. Wilson, President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushSince around 2000, he has been usually called George H. W. Bush, Bush Senior, Bush 41 or Bush the Elder to distinguish him from his eldest son, George W. Bush, who served as the 43rd president from 2001 to 2009; pr ...
, and Rep. George Miller inspect Cypress Street Viaduct damage.
Image:Cypress Street Viaduct construction 1957 Robert Owen Winkler.jpg, Under construction February 8, 1957
Image:Cypress Street Viaduct under construction 1957 Robert Owen Winkler.jpg, Under construction January 19, 1957
Similar structures damaged by earthquakes
*
Alaskan Way Viaduct
The Alaskan Way Viaduct ("the viaduct" for short) was an elevated freeway in Seattle, Washington, United States, that carried a section of State Route 99 (SR 99). The double-decked freeway ran north–south along the city's waterfront for , ...
*
Central Freeway
The Central Freeway is a roughly one-mile (1.5 km) elevated freeway in San Francisco, California, United States, connecting the Bayshore/James Lick Freeway (US 101 and I-80) with the Hayes Valley neighborhood. Most of the freeway is part ...
*
Embarcadero Freeway
Embarcadero, the Spanish word for wharf, may also refer specifically to:
Places
* Embarcadero (Oakland), California
* Embarcadero (San Diego), California
** Embarcadero Circle, waterfront re-development project in San Diego
* Embarcadero (San Fran ...
*
Hanshin Expressway
The is a network of expressways surrounding Osaka, Kobe and Kyoto, Japan. Operated by , it opened in 1962.
Portions of the Hanshin Expressway about east of Fukae Station collapsed during the Kobe earthquake on 17 January 1995. These section ...
See also
*
*
*
Interstate 280 (California)
Interstate 280 (I-280) is a major north–south auxiliary Interstate Highway in the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It runs from Interstate 680 (California), I-680 and U.S. Route 101 in California, US Route 101 (US  ...
– the only remaining similar freeway in the Bay Area.
References
External links
''Miracle on Interstate 880''(1993), TV movie fictionalization and re-enactment of events at the Cypress Structure.
''Loma Prieta Earthquake, ca. 1989''(03/2003 – ). National Archives and Records Administration – ARC Identifier 951729 / Local Identifier 311-NETC-39 – Department of Homeland Security. Federal Emergency Management Agency. National Emergency Training Center.
''Construction of the Cypress Viaduct (part 1 of 5)''(1950s), Caltrans video showing the progress of construction and engineering methods used.
{{Coord, 37.8168, -122.2895, region:US_type:landmark, display=title
Bridge disasters caused by earthquakes
Bridges in Alameda County, California
Buildings and structures in Oakland, California
Viaducts in the United States
Transportation disasters in California
1989 in California
1989 disasters in the United States
Bridge disasters in the United States
History of Oakland, California
Bridges on the Interstate Highway System
Demolished bridges in the United States
Demolished highways in the United States
Former buildings and structures in California
Former road bridges in the United States
Interstate 80
Named freeways in California
Concrete bridges in California
Road bridges in California
San Francisco Bay Area freeways
Transportation in Oakland, California
20th century in Oakland, California
2010s in Oakland
1957 establishments in California
1989 disestablishments in California