Beneath I-280: Excavating a Neighborhood Lost to San José Freeways

Who once lived in the neighborhood where I-280 and CA-87 intersect? 

In the mid 1960s assessors working for the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) took reference photos of each property that would be purchased and destroyed to make way for the I-280 freeway. 

Beneath I-280 features a selection of newly digitized photographs that capture street life in the neighborhood and archival materials. 

The exhibition aims to visualize the lost neighborhoods, lift up stories of people who lost their homes to freeway construction, and to invite further public dialogue about this history.

Opening Reception, Panel Discussion, and Community Conversation 

November 13, 2025 I 5-7 p.m. 

2nd Floor, DiNapoli Gallery & Room 225

This exhibition serves as a reminder of the social costs of mid-century urban planning and freeway construction, as planners and communities today work to retrofit our car-centric urban landscape into equitable, greener, walkable neighborhoods.

The “ Beneath I-280” in the DiNapoli Gallery exhibition was curated and produced by Bennett Williamson, ‘25 MUP, a recent alumnus of the Masters of Urban Planning program, in the School of Policy, Planning and Environmental Studies at San Jose State University with curatorial direction and marketing support by Marketing Communications and Relations Analyst Lesley Seacrist, ‘18 MA Communications Studies, of the SJSU King Library. 

Explore the digital website at tiny.sjsu.edu/280

The Beneath I-280 online exhibition produced by Leila Ullmann, Maxwell Friedman ‘23 MS Urban Planning, Bennett Williamson,‘25 MUP and Matthew Schroeder, ‘25 MUP

Faculty supervision and mentorship by Rick Kos and Gordon Douglas, School of Planning, Policy and Environmental Studies with support from the School of Policy, Planning and Environmental Studies and the SJSU’s Mineta Transportation Institute.  Funding for this research was provided by the Mineta Transportation Institute through a grant from the US Department of Transportation's University Transportation Centers program (Grant # 69A3551747127).

Explore the digital space that welcomes visitors to ask who once lived in the neighborhood that is now I-280 and SR-87 in San Jose? Discover personal testimonies, history, an immersive map, pages from the archives, images, and immersive stories at tiny.sjsu.edu/280.

This project looks at and was designed and researched upon the unceded land of the Muwekma and Tamyen Ohlone people who are currently seeking federal recognition for their ancestral connection and sovereignty to the land. Read more at sjsu.edu/diversity/land-acknowledgement