The City of Oakland will close and restrict several streets around Lake Merritt on Friday, June 19, from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. as it prepares for Juneteenth crowds at one of the city’s biggest public gathering spots.
The city said the measures are meant to safely handle large numbers of visitors while keeping emergency vehicles and transit moving. Residents along affected streets will still be able to get through, and so will AC Transit buses, East Bay Paratransit vehicles and bicycles.
That combination of access and restriction is the point. Oakland is urging people to reach Lake Merritt by AC Transit, BART, ride share and bike share, while at the same time limiting car traffic around the lake because summer weekends and holidays can bring heavy congestion to the narrow Lakeshore Avenue corridor. Double-parked and triple-parked cars can turn those streets into gridlock and make it harder for emergency vehicles to pass.
The closure plan is broad but specific. Lakeshore Ave will be closed between MacArthur Blvd and East 18th St. Beacon St, Boden Way, Brooklyn Ave, Wayne Ave, Hanover Ave and the Lakeshore Ave cul-de-sac will be closed at Lakeshore Ave. Grand Ave will be closed between MacArthur Boulevard and Euclid Ave, and Perkins St, Ellita Ave, Staten Ave and Bellevue Ave will be closed at Grand Ave. Bellevue will be restricted to residents only from Perkins St to Grand Ave and to visitors to Children’s Fairyland. Grand Ave, Lakeshore Ave and Beacon St will also be closed at MacArthur Blvd.
City Code Enforcement and OPD’s Alcoholic Beverage Action Team will be on site Friday to address illegal vending. The city is also not planning to place fencing around Lake Merritt, and Juneteenth is a parking meter holiday. The Lake Park Parking Lot under I-580 has approximately 150 spaces, but officials are clearly counting on people to leave their cars elsewhere.
The details suggest Oakland is trying to manage a one-day surge without shutting the lake down entirely. City offices are closed Friday for Juneteenth, road restrictions run only through the day, and bicycles remain allowed through the traffic barriers. What the city is not saying is how many people it expects to show up. It is acting as if the answer is a lot.
