Project Summary
Transportation agencies are currently advancing various strategies in Oakland to address harms associated with urban highway systems, including planning for the potential removal of I-980, freight redistribution across I-580 and I-880, and freight decarbonization. This project examines how these transitions shape retrospective justice and environmental justice outcomes in urban highway corridors. First, using qualitative methods, the project examines Vision 980 as a case study of how public agencies are implementing retrospective justice through freeway removal. Second, the project models how freight redistribution associated with the potential lifting of the I-580 truck ban impacts near-roadway air pollution exposure and exposure disparities along the I-580 and I-880 corridors. Third, the study evaluates how freight electrification scenarios modify environmental justice outcomes under freight redistribution. Results will provide insights into how reparative transportation initiatives are translated into agency practice and inform future considerations related to the truck ban, freight routing policy, and equitable transportation planning. This research has important implications for how transportation agencies address urban highways through the operationalization of repair and advancement of environmental justice.
