Posted: Sat May 07, 2005 2:51 pm

Over the past twenty years or so, Interstate 880 has been widened to eight-lanes in many different parts of Alameda and Santa Clara Counties, California. But to many motorists' dismay, Interstate 880 reaches a horrible bottleneck at Mission Boulevard, also known as Calfornia State Route (CA-) 262. As of May 2005, CalTrans (the California Department of Transportation) advised motorists of reconstruction at the Interstate 880/CA-262 interchange. By definition, CA-262 is a high-capacity connector between Interstate 880 and Interstate 680. The road has expressway qualities, meaning it has high-speed standards, multiple lanes, a median and some stop-lights. Many motorists from the Central Valley and Contra Costa County use the CA-262 connector on their commute to and from San Jose.





At the current Interstate 880/CA-262 interchange, Interstate traffic must squeeze to six lanes to accomodate a certain overpass (i.e., items (3) through (6) in the map). This six-lane configuration continues well south of the interchange, even with Mission Boulevard's `high-density traffic` merging in, and extends to the exit @ Dixon Landing Road. After the Dixon Landing Road exit, the freeway opens to ten lanes.

In the 1990s, CalTrans ordered a reconstruction of the Interstate 880/CA-262 interchange to accomodate eight continuous lanes of Interstate 880 traffic (https://www.dot.ca.gov/dist4/i880.htm). The original completion date was projected as 2001, but state funds were cut short during the dot-com bust. With construction finally beginning, the projected complete date for the project is 2006. Thanks to research by argatlam_roads, a newsposter from (usenet-group) misc.transport.road, CalTrans' blueprints for the redesign can be found at https://www.dot.ca.gov/hq/esc/oe/project_ads_addenda/04/04-2332U4/Plans/as_advertised/.

Pictured below is the configuration of the Interstate 880/CA-262 interchange, taken in May 2005. These photographs were taken as construction has begun, when no major road-work had been performed. As a reference, all the numbers listed in the graphical map above, (1) through (12), are used to identify these photographs:

(1) Interstate 880 south nearing the Mission Boulevard exit.



(2) Mission Boulevard connector ramp @ W. Warren Avenue



(3) Beginning of the "hairpin" ramp.



(4) Middle of the hairpin ramp.



(5) Descent of the hairpin ramp.



(6) Merge w/ Mission Boulevard, with the E. Warren Avenue exit approaching.



(7) Junction E. Warren Avenue



(8.) Northbound Kato Road. Although this is a California road, it looks like a typical road in Pennsylvania! Laughing



(9) Security fences for the NUMMI plant. The plant's southern boundaries straddle Kato Road



(10) Onramp from Kato Road to CA-262. Note how a blue-arrow is used in the freeway entrance ramp. This colour is only used for Interstate entrance ramps, however since a motorist has immediate access to Interstate 880 north and south upon merge (thus marking CA-262's southern terminus), CalTrans has granted an exception here.



(11) Interstate 880 south feeder-ramp, with a righthand exit for Gateway Boulevard



(12) Shortly after the merge w/ Interstate 880 south. Note how there are no lane additions, even after high-amounts of traffic (from CA-262) merge here throughout the work-week.