And naturally the grimy black dirt, like sand, was always on your car, in your home. That's what the freeway gave us. But residents say little else has changed in their neighborhood over the past decade. West Oakland, they say, still lacks the economic vibrancy that they have longed for since the 1950s, when war-related businesses left, and the neighborhood sank into long decline. The district lacks enough retail stores, banks and medical facilities to serve residents, officials acknowledge.
Many homes remain dilapidated.
And an Amtrak train station that closed because of Loma Prieta never reopened. Trains now stop at Jack London Square. Bruce Beasley of West Oakland helped plan the greenbelt park to be built where the viaduct once stood. Building the new Cypress took nine years alone, a process beset by a huge political fight over the new routing. Groundbreaking could start in a year.