297: Berkeley "bans" new freeways in 1994 council action

297.

Published news story by Lurene Kathleen Helzer, February 7, 1994, East Bay Journal, “Berkeley bans new freeways”. Running alongside the story is a photo of California 580, the retrofitted structural support for it then in one section, by Photographer Chris Duffy. Alongside also is a text box with “earthquake preparedness tips” for local residents. The tips are about cooking, sanitation, tools and basic survival skills one may require after a large earthquake.

What the story is covering is Berkeley’s discouragement of poorly-planned transportation growth. They feared building on landfill. Landfill has the solidity of Jello. It's unsafe for major corridors.

The 1994 council was citing the Northridge quake in the Los Angeles region, which had occurred just weeks before. That measured 6.7 on the Richter scale and led to the collapse of not only several residential and parking structures, but rendered unusable several transportation routes. The major points damaged or wrecked were the Santa Monica Freeway, the Golden State Freeway, the Newhall Pass interchange of Interstate 5 and State Route 14.

Tragically, some of these areas had been rebuilt and strengthened after a 1971 Los Angeles earthquake, but it didn’t prevent the similar events of 1994. People in the East Bay, still rebuilding from 1991’s massive fire, were loading up on emergency supplies.

Not surprisingly, given the area of the country, Los Angeles, a movie about earthquakes came out in 1974 with Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and George Kennedy. We loved it. But did California’s leaders begin a new, more responsible era in structural design?

In some respects, yes. But there’s only so much you can do; freeways are like cigarettes, and there’s no such thing as a “safe” design. So, by February, Berkeley’s council was voting against new, elevated freeway sections.