Although the freeway reopened in stages between 1997 and 1999, it was not fully rebuilt until 2001 due to safety and reinforcement concerns. In the meantime, traffic was detoured through nearby Interstate 980, causing increased congestion. Instead of rebuilding Interstate 880 over the same ground, Caltrans rerouted the freeway farther west around the outskirts of West Oakland to provide better access to the Port of Oakland and the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge, and to meet community desires to keep the freeway from cutting through residential areas (at the time the original viaduct was constructed, West Oakland was predominantly occupied by African and Hispanic-Americans). Street-level Mandela Parkway now occupies the previous roadbed of the Cypress structure.