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Committee backs deaccession of Broadway underpass artwork to clear way for undercrossing safety and wayfinding upgrades
Summary
OakDOT staff and committee members agreed to deaccession the Broadway I‑880 underpass public art, citing maintenance problems, new Caltrans transportation‑art requirements and the need to widen sidewalks and install pedestrian lighting and neighborhood wayfinding. Removal is scheduled for 2027; replacement artwork on Caltrans right‑of‑way is unlikely without separate funding and lengthy Caltrans review.
Oakland’s Public Art Advisory Committee voted April 6 to deaccession the public artwork installed at the I‑880 Broadway underpass, a long‑running project staff said has repeatedly failed to meet safety and maintenance objectives.
Ruth Mesa, a transportation planner in OakDOT’s major projects division, said the undercrossing improvement project will add pedestrian‑scale lighting, repaint columns with neighborhood wayfinding text and remove in‑ground uplighting and guardrail elements that are part of the current artwork. Mesa told the committee the city plans to submit construction permits this year and that “the art would be removed in 2027, and then the undercrossing improvements would come in in 2027 and 2028.”
Staff and committee members described recurring problems with the installed work: pigeon roosting, vandalism, and a gap between sculptural guardrails and an underlying fence that has presented safety and maintenance issues, including proximity to an Oakland Police Department parking area. A staff presentation said some lighting and projector elements are not salvageable and that reinstalling the original work would trigger Caltrans transportation‑art requirements, including multiyear review and dedicated maintenance agreements.
“One of the reasons why…some of these challenges have come up in the past is because…Measure DD funding has always been restricted,” a staff member said, noting funding rules and the lack of a sustainable maintenance commitment. Emily Eller of the Department of Transportation said negotiating Caltrans’ transportation‑art process can take many years and sometimes developers abandon projects rather than wait.
Committee members asked whether artists would be involved in removal and whether materials could be salvaged. Staff said the lead contact for the artist team (identified in the staff report as Nick Gomez for the Team of 5) has not indicated an interest in reclaiming materials and that many metal and lighting components would likely be recycled per city protocols; staff said they could follow up with the artist if reuse seemed viable.
A motion to deaccession the Broadway underpass artwork was moved and seconded and the committee approved it. Staff said they will coordinate removal timing with OakDOT and construction contractors and will follow up with the artist and community on any feasible reuse of components.
The committee’s action clears a path for the undercrossing improvements to proceed; staff emphasized that any new artwork under Caltrans right‑of‑way would require a separate application, a maintenance plan, and likely dedicated funding to meet Caltrans policy.
