Oakland A’s stadium plan would mean new ways to get to...

“Take Me Out to the Ballgame” could take on a different tone for Oakland A’s fans if the team, as planned, builds a new ballpark near downtown.

Along with a cozy, modern stadium, fans would be able to expect a new experience getting to and from games as well. They’ll still be able to take transit and drive to games, just as they do at the A’s current home, the Oakland Coliseum.

But that’s where the similarities end.

The A’s envision a new 35,000-seat ballpark on a 13-acre site between Laney College and Interstate 880 near Lake Merritt, several congested blocks from the nearest freeway on- and off-ramps, but close to BART, bars, restaurants and other amenities of downtown Oakland.

Team and city officials foresee fans mostly taking transit to games and making the experience more of a field trip — with dinner, drinks and entertainment before and after. Fewer people would be climbing into cars and rolling down the freeway to attend a game, then heading straight home afterward.

While the A’s are working on a plan to preserve pregame tailgate parties, team and city officials are eyeing a parking strategy that would lean heavily on the use of existing downtown parking and the willingness of people to walk as much as a mile to games.

Fans shouldn’t necessarily expect construction of a new interchange on I-880 or big new parking lots or garages, team and city officials agreed.

“Moving to an urban location — it’s going to be a different way of experiencing baseball,” said Dave Kaval, A’s president. “It will be transformational.

“A lot of people are going to take BART; some will take bus rapid transit; some will drive from the Tri-Valley or Contra Costa County to downtown Oakland and park downtown, have dinner at Peony in Chinatown, and walk to the ballpark. After the game they might stop and have a drink. It’s going to be that kind of extended experience on both ends.”

It’s a strategy that would spare the A’s, the city of Oakland and Caltrans the expense and bureaucratic hassle of planning and building a new freeway interchange or on- and off-ramps on nearby I-880.

While it’s early, folks studying and planning the proposed stadium site say the A’s don’t want to simply transplant the Coliseum travel experience on game days: a sea of parking, two sets of freeway interchanges and a BART station with a direct connection to the stadium.

“We want to minimize the need for expensive new things while also minimizing congestion impacts,” said Ryan Russo, Oakland’s transportation director.

For that to happen, the venue needs to become a transit-first ballpark, much like San Francisco’s AT&T Park, the Warriors’ under-construction Chase Arena, Sacramento’s new downtown Golden 1 Center and many of the new-era ballparks built in recent years across the country.

The A’s expect most of the fans coming to their stadium to take BART, using nearby Lake Merritt Station or the downtown 12th Street/Oakland City Center Station, then walking.

While the Coliseum has its own BART station with a pedestrian bridge leading to the stadium, only about 20 percent of fans take the train to the games. At the new site, currently the Peralta Community College District headquarters, the A’s expect at least 50 to 60 percent of fans to take transit to the stadium — even if it involves a 10-minute walk from Lake Merritt Station or a 20-minute walk from 12th Street/Oakland City Center Station.

In addition to BART, the team expects AC Transit to play a major role. The bus system is building bus rapid transit, a high-capacity bus line that acts like a subway service and will stop blocks from the stadium. A bit farther, a healthier walk away, are the Capitol Corridor commuter trains and the Alameda/Oakland Ferry.

Some fans will still want to drive, and the A’s and Oakland will have to figure out how and where to accommodate them. Oakland is surveying its downtown parking, Russo said, and has identified 14,000 to 15,000 existing spaces in lots or structures that could be available for games.

Unlike the Coliseum, where parking is in sprawling lots north and south of the stadium, downtown parking near the proposed ballpark is scattered, with some of it a mile away. Dispersed parking, as Russo calls it, along with some people stopping for postgame drinks or dinner, will help break up the end-of-game crowds, like those that choke the parking lot exits at the Coliseum and the entrances to I-880.

It may also reduce the need to build a lot of new parking spots, or freeway ramps, he said.

“If everyone’s not driving to one location,” said Russo, “you might not need an interchange in one location.”

Neither the city nor the team has ruled out new freeway ramps, however, and they say that will be among the issues they study over the next year as they plan for the new stadium.

Caltrans officials were noncommittal, saying they have no existing plans for additional freeway ramps on I-880 but that they’ll “definitely have something to say about it later,” said Bob Haus, a Caltrans spokesman. He said the department will save its comments for environmental impact studies on the stadium.

Even if stadium planners don’t see a need for new freeway ramps, other infrastructure improvements will certainly be needed downtown, including street improvements and realignments, new traffic signals and turning lanes.

Peter Albert, a retired San Francisco planner, worked on transportation plans for the Warriors’ Chase Arena, America’s Cup, the Super Bowl, the city’s waterfront and the Giants’ Mission Rock development.

The A’s, he said, should meet with the community, identify existing transportation problems, and try to craft solutions that improve any existing troublesome situations and minimize new ones. Those can be relatively simple things like installing bike and walking paths, turn lanes, waiting areas for ride services like Uber and Lyft, or bigger things like a closer ferry landing.

The A’s should also consider offering incentives, like discounted BART fares or game tickets, or cut-rate rides on bike sharing. Details, like making sure there are safe, lighted walking paths and transit service if games go past midnight, are also important, Albert said.

“If the premise is that it’s going to be a transit-first ballpark, then how are you going to make sure that’s the best way to get to the stadium?” he said. “You have a lot of good stuff to work with, but where it can fall apart is the details.”

BART’s Lake Merritt Station, which wasn’t designed as a high-capacity station, might need improvements to help it better handle crowds, said Alicia Trost, a BART spokeswoman. And there has been discussion that the A’s may want at least a portion of BART’s nearby Oakland Shops facility for a parking and tailgating area.

Shannon Starr, president of the Oakland A’s Booster Club, said members are concerned about losing tailgating and access for people with mobility problems, and about the increased distance from the Capitol Corridor trains for fans coming from the north.

But Starr, who lives in El Dorado County and drives to most games, said the spread-out parking plan wouldn’t be too much of a hassle.

“It might be a little bit of an adjustment,” she said, “but it wouldn’t scare me away.”