Multimillion Dollar Project to Tackle I-80 Congestion

If you want to know what's being planned to reduce the heavy traffic jams on Interstate 80 in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, local agencies will tell you at an "open house" meeting Monday night in Richmond.

The will focus on plans to improve traffic on the freeway between the maze (the interchange of I-80/580/880 in Oakland) and the Carquinez Bridge.

The says improvements include "adaptive ramp metering; high occupancy vehicle (HOV) bypass lanes at ramp meters; active management of traffic during freeway incidents using variable advisory speed limits and lane management on the freeway and coordinated traffic signal timing on the local streets; bus priority at traffic signals and ramp meters; enhanced traveler information; and the coordinated operation of all the components."

The changes are part of the $93-million l-80 lntegrated Corridor Mobility (lCM) project.

It represents a cooperative effort involving 10 local governments and several agencies concerned with transportation:

• California Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
• Albany
• Berkeley
• El Cerrito
• Emeryville
• Hercules
• Oakland
• Pinole
• Richmond
• San Pablo
• Contra Costa County (representing the unincorporated areas)
• AC Transit
• WestCAT
• Alameda County Transpodation Commission
• Contra Costa Transportation Authority
• West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee
• Metropolitan Transportation Commission

The Richmond Memorial Auditorium and Convention Center is located at 403 Civic Center Plaza in Richmond.

Follow Berkeley Patch on Twitter for a live stream from the open house Monday.

Interested in updates about the I-80 improvement project? Click "keep me posted" below.

Do you think I-80 is a traffic nightmare? Why? What should be done to improve traffic flow? Share your thoughts in the comments.