The neighborhoods of Longfellow and Santa Fe are home to 11,000 residents of the city of Oakland.
Since the late 1960s the neighborhood has been split by highway 24.
There are 1200 school age children in Longfellow and Santa Fe and 0 schools.
The closest elementary school, Emerson, is in Temescal, as are Oakland International High School and Oakland Tech and preK.
The closest middle school, Claremont Middle School, is in Rockridge, a 10 minute bike ride from Longfellow, but requires crossing Highway 24 twice.
This is despite the fact that Longfellow and Santa Fe contain an OUSD priority area.
To get to school, children west of 24 have to cross the highway.
There are 4 routes to cross 24: 40th, 42nd, 45th, 52nd
From the priority area crossing by 40th adds 10 minutes to the walk, involving crossing a high injury zone intersection twice.
Because of the MacArthur BART station, the main underpass is extra wide and poorly lit.
Crossing the covered underpass is a 2 minute walk...
A safety program was announced in 2020, but there have been no updates since 2021 and not response to emails.
52nd crosses UCSF Children’s Hospital and is the cleanest underpass.
However, it is also the longest, spanning 1/10th of a mile
and involves crossing a busy freeway offramp.
The most direct options, 42nd and 45th, are home to homeless encampments. And both have one side completely blocked.
To get to school, children must cross the following:
Obstacles:
Needles:
Trash with biohazards:
Children really do walk to school past trash, needles, biohazards, and people living in tents.
Additionally, Temescal remains the closest commercial district for Longfellow and Santa Fe with a shopping corridor on Telegraph St
The 45th underpass is ideal to focus on as a safe passageway for a number of reasons: