As many of you may have noticed, the walls are covered with soot from the automobile exhaust and are slowly turning pitch black in many places.
Turns out it is not a simple matter of just hosing down the walls. The runoff has to be collected and disposed off separately to meet the EPA standards, ie: they cannot let the runoff into the storm water drain as it will eventually enter the bay. Unlike the Caldecott tunnels, the Alameda tubes do not have the ability to divert the runoff into the sewer drain (this also explains why the Caldecott walls are much cleaner). As a result of the additional costs, CalTrans is deferring the cleanups.
I suspect that if more people complain, CalTrans will act. As it currently stands, the tubes are not a great advertisement for Alameda. You can also reach CalTrans at 510-286-0315.
October 18, 2011 at 7:18 am |
I noticed that the other day as well, the walls are covered in marks where pedestrians and cyclists have touched them and wiped the soot off.
October 18, 2011 at 6:50 pm |
Thanks for bringing this up. I called CalTrans today.
John, yet another reason to avoid biking thru the tubes.
March 14, 2012 at 9:06 pm |
[...] than 6 months after the last cleaning, the walls are getting darker with every passing day. Time to call CalTrans [...]