Lake Chabot Road Repairs Inconvenient for Neighbors
Closure on Lake Chabot Road eastbound toward Castro Valley, just past Chabot Terrace.
The San Leandro side of storm-damaged Lake Chabot Road will remain closed until at least the fall as repairs are underway, officials said late last month.
The county’s part of Lake Chabot Road from Castro Valley to Astor Drive has reopened. But the part of the road in the City of San Leandro still hasn’t been repaired from a cave-in during storms last winter.
The San Leandro part of Lake Chabot Road goes from the road’s start near Interstate 580 to Astor Drive. Cars can get to the first several right turns past 580 that lead to Bay-O-Vista’s neighborhood streets, with the road closed to vehicles from just past Chabot Terrace to near Astor Drive. Pedestrians and bicyclists, however, can still use that portion of Lake Chabot Road.
Bay-O-Vista residents and businesses are the most impacted, including the Bay-O-Vista Swim and Tennis Club, which has been in business for 75 years, built even before there were houses in the neighborhood.
“We managed to survive the pandemic while keeping our staff and most of our customers,” said club President Mark Mohr. “Our programs are all back. Now some people are talking about never reopening the road to cars. That would make it hard for our senior members, especially, to reach us.”
According to city officials, the best drivers can hope for is an opening of one lane, with traffic controls, on the south side of the road before the rainy season hits in late 2023.
Restoring one-lane car travel requires San Leandro City Council approval. The city's Facilities and Transportation Committee recommended the repairs with limited lane controls at its May 3 meeting.
Repairs in three different areas on the downslope, or north side of the road, will extend into 2024 before the road can again be open for two-way traffic, according to Sheila Marquises, the city’s engineering and transportation director.
Not only will it take time to fix those other three areas, but the city needs to find funding, Marquises said. However, federal disaster funds will pay for most of the cost of fixing the worst-hit area.
However, the traffic that would normally use Lake Chabot Road to travel between San Leandro and Castro Valley has caused a new problem, says Kat Wellman, president of the Bay-O-Vista Improvement Association (BOVIA), the homeowners' group.
When people driving from Castro Valley see the city’s barricade just past Astor Drive, by the swim and tennis club, many turn onto Astor and detour through Bay-O-Vista neighborhood streets, she said, adding that she's noticed more people speeding through the streets.
The Bay-O-Vista homeowners have been meeting with the city about ways to slow the increased traffic. Wellman said. One of the simpler suggestions is to put a three-way stop sign at Astor Drive and Lake Chabot Road, which could be kept in place after the city part of the road reopens.
Director Marquises said, “Stop signs are often not as simple a solution as people think.” She explained there are state laws tightly limiting their use, no matter how common-sense their installation might seem local.
Right turns from Chabot Terrace toward San Leandro carried a danger of being rear-ended by cars speeding around that curve, while left turns to put one at risk of being T-boned by those same cars, Wellman said. The closure removes that risk, but only temporarily, she said.