The Frickstad Viaduct makes way for a bigger more user-friendly Lakeside Park

On May 6 at 2 pm, at 12th St. and Lakeshore Ave., shovels will turn over ceremonial dirt to mark the start of the biggest project funded by Measure DD, passed overwhelmingly by Oaklanders in 2002. Here comes another chapter in the history of Lake Merritt! 

Originally a tidal slough, Lake Merritt is a brackish watery intersection where numerous streams meet a channel to the bay. Our first mayor, the shrewd scoundrel Horace Carpentier, charged a toll to cross the outlet channel at 12th Street. He had realized that people would pay to cross at this constricted point.  

By the 1860s, the lake smelled terrible because it contained much of Oakland’s sewage; Mayor Samuel Merritt (who owned a house on the shore) masterminded a project that in 1868 turned the slough into a central “lake” and then proceeded with a plan for more modern sewers using actual pipes. In 1870 the lake was declared a bird sanctuary, to discourage shooting in the neighborhood. It became an elegant area, with big houses along the edge. 

After the 1906 earthquake, San Francisco refugees camped at Adams Point around where Fairyland stands, and at The Willows, near Camron Stanford House. Some stayed in town and contributed to Oakland’s growth. More came later, with a population bump during World War II. 

By the end of the war, traffic jams between eastern Oakland and downtown were becoming more frequent and, the Chamber of Commerce felt, threatening downtown business. In creating a twelve-lane-wide roadway across the 12th Street dam and its parkland, City Engineer Walter Frickstad solved the problem with an up-to-date proto-freeway of sweeping curves, automotive and pedestrian tunnels, a mid-roadway bus island, and exciting lane merges.  

Finished in 1950, the Frickstad Viaduct gradually lost importance as freeways 880 and 580 were completed, in 1958 and 1964. Today, the worn concrete structure is crumbling, the bus island a strange mid-urban wasteland, its tunnels graffitied and the margins weedy. A few hardy citizens sprint across, but it takes nerves of steel to step into the blindly curving lanes. 

For 140 years people have studied Lake Merritt—from making plans to fill it or build across it, to researching its water quality and wildlife. In 1988-89, a group of landscape architects and community members produced the Community Assistance Team Study; it begat the idea of a master plan for the Lake.  

Then, in 2000, the Diocese of Oakland proposed to purchase the parking lot at the city’s Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium for a new cathedral, planning to build on a platform extending over the roadway. Many felt this to be an inappropriate disposition of a public asset, and that it would have a terrible effect on the historic auditorium. The Coalition of Advocates for Lake Merritt opposed the idea, and in a creative breakthrough, some architect members created a thrilling new site plan showing a reduced-width 12th Street, a new waters’ edge park, and separate pedestrian and auto bridges. Community discussion ensued, and in fall 2001 the Diocese withdrew its proposal. In the meantime, the city hired the consultant firm, Wallace Roberts and Todd, to prepare a Lake Merritt Master Plan. The 12th Street reconfiguration ideas found their way into the Master Plan. The current project refines this vision, with additions including new pedestrian access from the lake to a trail along the outlet channel toward the estuary, and accommodations for Bus Rapid Transit. 

Once the Master Plan was complete, City Council members built a ballot measure around lake improvements, adding other key elements. Approved in an 80% vote, Measure DD funds other major projects such as the East Oakland Sports Center, Bay Trail segments and related open space improvements, and North Oakland’s Studio One Art Center.  

The new 12th Street will be spectacular! That big wall at the lake’s end will disappear altogether, to be replaced by a sloping two-acre park. The tunnels will vanish. Safer, more pleasant crossings at street level will include traffic signals, for better pedestrian access to the museum and the auditorium. A prime amenity for park users will be a continuous shoreline path, with its own bridge across the outlet channel.  

The hydrology of the lake and its channel are being reworked, with plans for increased tidal action to improve circulation. Removing culverts in the channel should reduce chronic storm flooding at the Lakeshore and Grand Avenue areas, and lessen summer’s stagnation, oxygen depletion and algal aroma. A bird marsh along the channel will be greatly enlarged. 

Budgetarily, the timing is lucky. Passed when people were still feeling solvent, the 40-million-dollar project is getting underway now just as construction prices are lower, and construction jobs much needed. Successful applications for grant funds from the federal government and from the State Coastal Conservancy are widening the scope of the project and leveraging the bond monies. Construction should be complete within two years: let’s plan a walk around the Lake!

For more information: www.oaklandnet.com/measuredd

Naomi Schiff is a business owner in downtown Oakland, a longtime resident and a member of the board of directors of the Oakland Heritage Alliance.