Rob AriasA water-main break on Hollis Street early Saturday morning flooded the street and closed a block of 45th street to traffic.
EBMUD crews responded to the area and were able to shut down and isolate the break before noon. Repairs were completed later that evening.
The break occurred on a 10″ cast iron main requiring a new 12′ section be spliced in according to spokesperson Andrea Pook. “The cause will be investigated after but likely corrosion,” Pook provided noting the split was longwise along the pipe.
It wouldn’t be a shock to anyone if the vibrations from jackhammering and construction over the past several months contributed to weakening the aged and brittle pipes.
The only saving grace is that it happened on a weekend and not during commuter hours.
It was the second water main break in Emeryville in less than two months (the other on Shellmound back on July 31). The city has also had emergency closures on 43rd and Essex (sewer) and Shellmound (gas main replacement) over this span.
Emeryville residents are pretty resilient when it comes to construction and the disruptions that come with it … but there are limits. Residents have increasingly been expressing their frustration with the seemingly endless construction and lack of updates and timelines by the city through their official channels.
Horton Street was under construction off and on for nearly four years during the development of The Emery Apartments and Emery Yards Life Sciences campus (since sold to Sutter Health). It was a surprise to many that these efforts included a traffic diverter at 53rd pushing cross-town drivers to Hollis. Now Hollis is under construction further limiting north-south access for vehicles traversing the city.
Construction of the Hollis “Sustainable Streetscapes” project began in March, 2025 with an open-ended timeline. When complete, this nearly $10M project will include bulb-outs (AKA “curb extensions”), repaved streets, upgraded signal systems, landscaping, and updated striping.
Six months later, residents are getting fed up and wondering when the project will finally be completed so they can go about their day without the disruptions these projects bring. “The never-ending construction on Hollis and Horton is beyond frustrating,” noted resident Michelle T. on Instagram. “Every day, I try to find a different route just to avoid it—only to run into more construction on the detour.”
“That street has been under construction for a decade and will probably still be in another ten years,” quipped another resident.
This ambiguity seems to be generating resentment with some wondering if the current level of foot traffic on the street justified the priority, disruption and cost the city has dedicated to it.
“The sidewalks were pretty wide on both sides and completely sufficient for foot traffic,” questioned one resident. “It’s more like someone got rewarded a huge project and had to justify the budget. Meanwhile, we have been living in a constant construction zone for the last 10 years!”
Several residents have inquired with our platform why the intersection lights have been in “flashing red” mode for so long. These flashing reds are actually by design according to Public Works. “The traffic control that the City approved for the contractor on Hollis required the signals to go into ‘red flash’ as new lane configurations are built out and elevations of the streets are changed where we can’t support the full original width lanes until the final paving is completed.”
Not only is the dust, noise and parking restrictions causing frustrations, the detours can be confusing and lead to danger and even confrontations.
“A construction worker suddenly jumped in front of my car because I was unaware of the correct route due to unclear signage,” noted one commenter on a Reddit thread about the subject. “He then proceeded to argue by yelling at me in front of my child, which was both unprofessional and distressing.”
In the short term, the disruptions are making the use of transit more challenging. “It’s a disaster,” added Nick M. via Facebook. “I understand why trying to make pedestrian and cyclist safety better, and public transit more accessible is beneficial, but at the moment the Emery-Go-Round buses can’t actually make turns if there’s traffic in the opposing lane due to all the construction intrusion into the junctions.”
Despite the criticism, some bike/ped activists have embraced the change and see it as a necessary, short-term inconvenience. “I’m grateful for the improvements, and Hollis already feels much safer as a pedestrian,” noted one commenter. “These things take time.”
“I’ve almost been hit here with my kids multiple times,” noted another commenter referencing the removal of the slip lane on Hollis & Powell that were part of the improvements. “Kudos to the city for prioritizing pedestrian safety.”
The city has already alerted residents of additional upcoming disruptions including sewer work on Park Avenue beginning September 16.
Completion of the Hollis project is anticipated in late October. Updates on the project are posted on Emeryville.org. The city says it intends to post more regular updates with the recent redesign of their website.
The completion of Hollis will unfortunately only provide a brief reprieve for residents. There are future plans in the works to reconfigure 40th Street and San Pablo Avenue that would keep Emeryville a construction zone in perpetuity.
Folks interested in Emeryville CIP projects can watch the video of the 9-16-2025 City Council study session conducted at City Hall. (I was an audience of 1 at this important presentation and spoke at 43:08) https://www.youtube.com/live/INM_1H5Hl-E?si=Eqnjd8cJDNUKnrKP. I asked to be in contact the Director of Public Works Mohamed Aloui and Chief Engineer Ryan O’Connell for more information and I know I and others want to weigh in on whether this upheaval is worth it, particularly given that we do not yet know the needs of Sutter Health if they actually establish a facility in our city. 3 street projects raised many concerns for me, not to mention the costs of these projects. Even if $850K comes from Federal funding for the 40th street multi-modal project and other funding from CalTrans, these projects are not without cost to our city and so far my opinion is the Hollis Street project hasn’t been improved at all. It is possible to see the September 2025 CIP project updates. Google: “Capital Improvement Project Updates” “September 2025” “City of Emeryville” THE FINAL DESIGN and City Council SIGN OFF on these projects has not yet happened, so I would say: Spend a little time on this if you are a pedestrian, biker, driver visitor or resident. I thought the changes proposed to the west side of Powell Street, from what I understand so far, will dramatically DECREASE safety in ways I don’t find reasonable, and I definitely want more clarity on how much money from our general fund and staff time will be required over what period of time on these HUGE, EXPENSIVE projects. WILL THEY HELP OUR CITY??? I URGE CITY COUNCIL TO SOLICIT MORE CITIZEN/RESIDENT/SHOPPER/VISITOR/WORK HERE IN EMERYVILLE humans before such huge amount of money are expended for these projects with designs that so far seem obtuse to me.
comment edits: so far my opinion is the Hollis Street project hasn’t improved Hollis Street at all, and I have received comments thanking me for speaking up. I’d like to know: Are you interested or NOT INTERESTED in these street “improvement” projects? Even though outside funds are utilized, I’m curious about the cost to our city, whether they IMPROVE our city and whether they will need to be re-done for Sutter Health efficiency? plus in the Marina, this Powell Street project: I looked at garbage trucks navigating the roadway today and thought: are you kidding me about angle parking???
Whose speculation is this? “It wouldn’t be a shock to anyone if the vibrations from jackhammering and construction over the past several months contributed to weakening the aged and brittle pipes.” This type of writing is why I won’t contribute monetarily to this information newsletter.
It’s actually pretty common from what I read (I came across sources ranging from 10-25%) and we clearly framed what EBMUD said was likely (corrosion). As you pointed out, we stated “contributed to” as in it didn’t directly cause.
https://www.structuremag.org/article/evaluation-and-mitigation-of-risks-from-adjacent-construction/?utm_source=chatgpt.com
When a resident opposes the changes, Rob Arias refers to them, as a “resident”, when they support the changes he refers to them as a “bike/ped activist”.
I consider myself a “bike/ped” activist (it’s not a slight. Don’t know why you think it would be). I didn’t identity the person in the quote by name but yeah, they are an Oakland resident that are involved with their BPAC.
If I go to another community and advocate for changes/improvements, I think it’s worth mentioning.
So glad to see Emeryville investing in our city infrastructure!
Social media is a known ground for venting negativity and frustrations. Everyone annoyed by the construction has valid points up until they think stopping the work is a good idea. Once a project is already underway, complaining about the process to the point of calling for inquiries and aiming for full-on cancelations is even more expensive, disruptive, and wasteful.
Vent about traffic and unpleasant interactions with construction workers by all means. But also understand that no public maintenance project is ever _done_. There will always be construction somewhere. There has to be or those surprise pipe bursts become even more frequent.
An article trying to use angry Instagram comments to determine community sentiment is wild. It’s great the city actually paves and improves our streets.
Instagram, Facebook and Reddit actually.
If you read the comments of these posts it’s like 80/20 critical/positive.
I personally consider myself a proponent of safe streets and active transportation infrastructure but that doesn’t mean I should ignore the concerns of others. That’s called advocacy journalism, not accountability journalism which is what we prescribe to.
Let people vent. Let the city and its elected officials defend their decisions.
To anonymous who calls this street “paving” is like saying major surgery = splinter removal.
The never ending construction has been difficult for our customers and staff and has cost us business. I can barely remember what Hollis Street looked like without construction. The planning of this year long project did not consider the negative impact on businesses.
As a pedestrian and dog walker, the neverending construction has been abysmal.