Major I-80, Gilman Street infrastructure project in Berkeley is complete

BERKELEY, Calif. (KGO) -- Commuter traffic at a busy Berkeley interchange is flowing a lot more smoothly now. A major infrastructure project at I-80 and Gilman Street is now finished, and it was officially unveiled Monday.

A special ribbon cutting event was held Monday.

A big part of the project is two roundabouts at I-80 and Gilman Street -- the first off-exit roundabout in Alameda County.

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Caltrans says that Gilman Street is a gateway into Berkeley and West Berkeley specifically. But anyone who's traveled through here before knows how complicated this interchange was to get through.

Cars have been able to come through these roundabouts now for about two months, and Caltrans says the difference has been night and day.

"There's many ways into the freeway and out to many streets," said Caltrans spokesperson Hector Chincilla. "So what the roundabouts have done is they've created a safer way for motorists to be able to travel when they exit and go around at a very slow speed and be able to take their exits whenever they're coming to the park, to the Gilman fields, entering into the freeway or going into the new Gilman district."

This is a multimodal project, meaning that this was also about bikers and pedestrians, too.

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New pathways for both, including an overpass, have been added to connect a gap from the Berkeley side to the Albany side.

While drivers have been able to come through here for a couple of months now, the project wasn't quite done.

Beautification along the walls and new signage is now added, meaning that the ribbon cutting was able to happen Monday.

Caltrans said it may be an adjustment for many drivers to learn the roundabouts, but they're confident over time they will become more familiar.