Jim Berkland County Geologist for Santa Clara County from 1973 until he retired in 1994. Berkland's predictions have been either self-published in his newsleter or website, or announced in various interviews or speaking engagements. His notoriety arose from an interview published in the Gilroy Dispatch on October 13, 1989, where he predicted that an earthquake with a magnitude between 3.5 and 6.0 would occur in the San Francisco Bay Area between October 14 and October 21. The 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake occurred on October 17, just four days later. Berkland claims that government officials told him not to make any more predictions,
California State Route 17 in Oakland, destroyed in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake) but parts have been redesignated. The section between Interstate 80 and US 101 in San Rafael was renumbered as an extension of Interstate 580. Prior to the redesignation, this part of SR 17 followed Richmond streets, including an expressway called Hoffman Boulevard, to the bridge; a freeway built to Interstate standards was completed in 1990 after the corridor became 580's northwestern leg. Additionally, SR 17 between Interstate 280 in San Jose and the freeway's new northern terminus in Oakland was re-designated as Interstate 880 later that year. Since the late 1990s,