Pull off Interstate 80 at Gilman Street in Berkeley, and the first thing that catches the eye isn’t the waterfront with a view of San Francisco in the distance, or nearby Golden Gate Fields.

Instead, it’s the accumulation of tents under the freeway overpass and the army of homeless people who populate them. The area has been a hot spot for Berkeley’s homeless in recent years, but this scene is about to change, as city and state officials erect new fences to keep people out.

After years of disbanding the encampment only to see it rise once again, Caltrans has begun to erect fencing that is expected to effectively keep people out of the area. The first fence went up Thursday, blocking off about half of the space that those living in the area have been occupying for several years. The other half will soon be fenced off as well.

Homeless people living there say that once the new fences are complete, they will have nowhere to go in Berkeley.

“We’re the furthest to the west, the furthest south, we’re staying out of the storefronts,” said Bruce Nixon, a 53-year-old man who used to live under the freeway, on Thursday. “There’s not going to be anything anymore.”

The Gilman Street overpass has provided a sort of refuge for Berkeley’s homeless, who have huddled beneath the massive concrete structure, which carries tens of thousands of cars a day along I-80. Removed from downtown Berkeley, it’s a place where homeless people know and look out for one another, including some who have been camping at Gilman for years.

But the encampment poses significant public health risks, according to city officials. The area is regularly littered with feces, used needles and bottles of urine. The detritus is so substantial that Caltrans cleans the space every two weeks.

Caltrans workers and California Highway Patrol officers descended on the encampment Thursday morning to clear the sidewalk and street under I-80, which was littered with a thick layer of trash, clothes and food. Those living at the Gilman encampment waited across the street with their belongings, prepared to move back once the cleanup was finished.

“It is simply unsafe and unsanitary,” said CHP spokesman Sean Wilkenfeld. “There’s human feces, there are needles, there’s animal feces, there is lots of drug use that goes on.”

City and state workers have been in a tug-of-war with those living under the freeway at Gilman Street since the Albany Bulb, a former landfill where many homeless people lived, was cleared in the spring of 2014. The city of Albany paid those living there to clear the area, and many landed on the streets of Berkeley.

Since then, Caltrans and the city of Berkeley have regularly sent crews to clean up the Gilman overpass area, but the homeless living there have never stayed away long. Typically, they return the same day.

“The problem isn’t getting better,” Caltrans spokesperson Bob Haus said Thursday as more than 10 workers cleaned up the area. “It’s a tough situation for everybody.”

The encampment is the shared responsibility of the state and city government, Haus said. The area directly under the freeway, where the majority of homeless people live, is under the jurisdiction of Caltrans. The surrounding plots of land are city property. Accordingly, the city and Caltrans share the burden of cleaning and monitoring the space.

Haus said that Caltrans is installing stronger fences and erecting new fences at the request of the city.

“They’re trying to make it illegal to be homeless in Berkeley,” said a homeless man who called himself Cody, who previously lived at the Albany Bulb. As the new fences emerge, he said, the Gilman encampment reminds him more and more of the Albany Bulb in the months preceding its closure.

Kerrie Crawford, a 34-year-old woman who said she is pregnant, has been living at the Gilman encampment since October. Thursday morning, she was hurriedly packing her belongings and hauling them across the street. She dragged a mattress through traffic to make sure it wasn’t taken out with the detritus littering the encampment.

“Where else am I supposed to go?” Crawford said. “Everybody tries to get rid of us, but that’s not solving the problem.”

Matthai Chakko, a spokesman for the city of Berkeley, said that the city regularly sends homeless outreach workers to the camp but that those living at Gilman have rarely used the services offered.

“Our main goal with the people who have been living there is to get them into housing,” Chakko said.

Berkeley has seen an increase in homeless people in recent years, from 680 in 2009 to 834 in 2015, according to Chakko. Berkeley shifted its approach to homelessness earlier this year, consolidating its various services into one system called the Hub.

Chakko said the city hopes this change will make it easier for Berkeley’s homeless to access the care that they need. However, thus far the city has had little luck moving people from the Gilman encampment off the streets.

Leroy Morgan, a 61-year-old man who has lived at Gilman on and off for more than six years, said he has no idea where he will go once the fences seal off the remaining open land under the freeway. He said he will stay at the encampment until the police begin citing homeless people for being there.

“They keep saying get into a shelter, but they’re all full,” Morgan said. “There’s nowhere to go unless we sleep in somebody’s doorway.”

Libby Rainey is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email lrainey@sfchronicle.com Twitter: rainey_l