The Roads Not Taken The San Francisco Freeway Revolt Revisited

Steven B. Colman, PTP email: [email protected] For pdf of Paper, email me:

[email protected] What Was the ‘Freeway Revolt’?

• First Systemic Rejection of Urban Freeway Plan in U.S. • 1959-1966 San Francisco Elected Leaders Rejected Comprehensive Freeway Plan • Set Later Pattern of Public Engagement • Likely Helped Secure Support of Large BART Bond Measure (1962) Purpose of This Presentation

• Retell An Interesting Story • Review Some of the Key Actors and Events • Show How Recollection of History Can Change & Be Mythologized • Provides Lessons on What Was Learned (Validity for Contemporary Transportation Professionals) • Try to Avoid an Advocacy/ Spin (Others Can Provide That!) Early Events ‘Pre-Revolt’ (Often Overlooked)

• San Francisco An Early Adopter of the Auto • In 1914, SF Auto Ownership Rate Nearly Double National Average • By 1936, a 12-fold Increase in Vehicles Owned • Congestion an Early SF Problem Because… • Very Limited Land Area • Downtown Located in NE Corner of Land Mass • Bridges Built in 1930s Concentrated Traffic • Streets Platted in mid-1800s for Walking and Horse-Drawn Vehicles • Miller McClintock’s First “Modern” Limited-Way Plan, 1936-37 McClintock Limited Way Plan McClintock Elevated Ways Post-World War II Planning

• Deteriorated Roads and “Pent Up” Demand • City Produces Freeway Plan – end of 1945 • City Hires DeLeuw, Cather to Produce Comprehensive Plan • Multi-modal in Nature • Considers Parking Issues • State Passes Collier-Burns Highway Act (1947) • Greatly Increases Funding for Highways (but only highways) • Creates California Freeway & Expressway System • Downtown and City in Decline • Population falls from wartime high of 900,000 to 775,000 in 1950 Post-World War II Problems

• Deteriorated Roads and “Pent Up” Demand • Downtown and City in Decline • Resident Population Falling • Population falls from wartime high of 900,000 to 775,000 in 1950 • Continues fall to 740,000 in 1960 Census • Downtown Activity Falling • Accumulated persons in downtown metro traffic district down 6% 1947-1959 • No new major office buildings early 1930s until late 1950s • Solution: Increase City’s Accessibility to Region DeLeuw, Cather Freeway Plan - 1948

North Mixed-Mode Mission Freeway Rapid Transit in Median State Division of Highways Assumes Control

• Mostly Adopts City Plans for Freeway Routes • Funding Increase Allows More Lanes, Earlier Construction • City Staff Insists Freeways be Double-Decked • Some Freeways to be Built by City, Others by State • The Bureau of Public Roads publishes its “Yellow Book” • After 1956, Some SF Routes Made Part of Interstate System What Could Go Wrong?

…with this Megaproject? Early Freeway Experience & Gathering Storm

• “Easy” Routes Built First (example: Bayshore Freeway) • Little or No Opposition • Recreation & Park Commission Objects to At-Grade Freeways in Golden Gate Park (1953) • Embarcadero Freeway (c1955) along Waterfront • Central Freeway/ US 101 loop around downtown Key Freeway Opponents

• Scott Newhall • Editor, San Francisco Chronicle • Mainly Opposed Only to Embarcadero Freeway, at Least Initially • Christopher McKeon • Residential Developer in Area of Western Freeway (“Sunset District”) • Owned Property Adversely Affected by Freeways • Others • Board of Supervisors’ Role/ William Blake State Division of Highways Makes Some Key Mistakes in Public Presentations Board of Supervisors 1959 “Blake Resolution”

• Opposed Construction of 7 of 9 Freeways in City’s Master Plan • Exceptions: Southern Freeway (now I-280) & Hunters Point Expressway/Freeway

• Invoked City’s Power Under Streets & Highways Code (City Street Closures) • Resolution No. 45-59, Passed Unanimously • Sent Division of Highways ‘Back to Drawing Board’ • Mayor Orders Reappraisal Led by City Departments Division Resurrects 2 Routes – 1964-66

• “Most Promising” Routes Qualify for Interstate Funding: • Golden Gate Freeway (I-480) Embarcadero to Golden Gate Bridge • “Panhandle” Freeway (I-80/280) Central Freeway to GG Bridge • Both Are Intercounty/Bridge Connections • Foes Create Effective Coalition of Neighborhoods • BART Under Construction Now • Supervisor Blake Proposes a Tunnel Option (next slide) • When 480 Abandoned, Fed Funds Transferred to LA for Century (I-105) Freeway The “Blake Tunnel” (Not Built) Approximately 2 Miles

• Approximately 2 miles in length • All underground • No interchanges • Cut diagonally from end of US 101 (Central) Freeway near Gough Street, to edge of Presidio (both ends of existing freeways) State Opposes “Blake Tunnel”

• Cost • Difficult Soils Conditions (e.g., sand, fractured rock) • Time to Construct • Prior Experience with Embarcadero Tunnel (foot of Market Street) • Wouldn’t Fit into Other Freeway Plans • Would Still Require Surface Vent Structures Stalemate & Reversal of Fortune What Are Some Lessons Learned? (1/2)

• The Battle Was Perhaps More Conventional (and Less Noble) than Some Claim • Consensus In Favor of Freeways Disintegrated Quickly • Ease of Early Construction Led to False Confidence • Limited Stakeholder Involvement Proved a Liability • Limited Number of Alternatives Available or Studied What Are Some Lessons Learned? (2/2)

• Lack of Flexibility in… • Use of Funds • Willingness to Explore Options • Nature of Interstates– “One Size Fits All” (e.g., access control, design speed) • Citizen Groups Repurposed to Fight Freeways • Proponents Over-Confident and Had Limited Willingness to Compromise • Failure of Division to Recognize Changing Public Opinion • Timing Wrong: Values Shifting, BART, Rising Environmental Movement End Thank You to Peer Reviewers: Jerry Robbins, Jerry Hall, & Anonymous