PRESIDIO OF SAN FRANCISCO, DOYLE DRIVE AND VETERANS HAER CA-2270 HIGHWAY EXCHANGE HAER CA-2270 Golden Gate National Recreation Area Doyle Drive, Veterans Boulevard, and Richardson Avenue San Francisco San Francisco County California PHOTOGRAPHS WRITTEN HISTORICAL AND DESCRIPTIVE DATA FIELD RECORDS HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD PACIFIC WEST REGIONAL OFFICE National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior 1111 Jackson Street, Suite 700 Oakland, CA 94607 HISTORIC AMERICAN ENGINEERING RECORD Presidio of San Francisco, Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange (Presidio of San Francisco, California) HAER No. CA-2270 Name: Presidio of San Francisco, Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange Location: The Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange is located in the City and County of San Francisco, California, within the formal boundary of the Presidio of San Francisco National Historic Landmark District (NHLD) District. The Presidio of San Francisco occupies 1,491 acres of land at the northwest corner of the City of San Francisco. The former military reservation is bordered on the north and west by the San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean, respectively. It is bordered on the east and south by San Francisco’s Marina District, Pacific Heights, and Richmond District. The Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange encompasses the Doyle Drive approach to the Golden Gate Bridge (Highway 101), part of Veterans Boulevard, known popularly in San Francisco as the Park Presidio approach to the Golden Gate Bridge (Highway 1), and Richardson Avenue, a diagonal connector road linking Doyle Drive and Lombard Street (Highway 101). A segment of Richardson Avenue is located within the San Francisco city grid, between Lyon Street (east), Broderick Street (west), Francisco Street (north), and Lombard Street (south). The portion of Veterans Boulevard (Park Presidio) within the project area is limited to the viaducts, at-grade roadway segments, and interchange ramp connections to Doyle Drive that are located north of the MacArthur Tunnel. The Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates (North American Datum 1983) for the main features of the Presidio of San Francisco, Doyle Drive and Veterans Boulevard Exchange are listed below. These features are discussed in more detail in the physical description section of this Historic American Engineering Record (HAER) The UTM data is listed in the following order: zone/easting/northing. I. Doyle Drive (Highway 101) East End: 10S/548558.32/4184281.24 West End: 10S/546223.40/4184494.19 a) Doyle Drive Marina Boulevard Ramp East End: 10S/548558.32/4184281.24 West End: 10S/548401.15/4184226.10 b) Doyle Drive Low Viaduct (Marina Viaduct, Bridge No. 34-0014) East End: 10S/548403.85/4184213.01 West End: 10S/547419.17/4183953.39 Presidio of San Francisco, Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange HAER No. CA-2270 (page 2) c) Doyle Drive High Viaduct (Presidio Viaduct, Bridge No. 34-0019) East End: 10S/547109.78/4184006.04 West End: 10S/546676.74/4184124.17 d) Doyle Drive Lincoln Boulevard Undercrossing (Bridge No. 34-0062) North Side: 10S/546276.84/4184461.03 South Side: 10S/546245.11/4184439.43 II. Richardson Avenue (Highway 101) a) Median Divided At-Grade Roadway South End: 10S/548859.33/4183644.08 North End: 10S/548391.59/4184096.38 b) Richardson Avenue/Doyle Drive Elevated On-Ramp South End: 10S/548242.56/4184220.41 North End: 10S/547969.71/4184150.26 c) Richardson Avenue/Doyle Drive Elevated Off-Ramp South End: 10S/548288.53/4184153.70 North End: 10S/548186.35/4184159.96 III. Veterans Boulevard (Park Presidio, Highway 1) a) Kobbe Avenue Undercrossing (Viaduct B, Bridge No. 34-0017) South End: 10S/546711.25/4183459.97 North End: 10S/546714.09/4183688.36 b) Ruckman Avenue Undercrossing (Viaduct C, Bridge No. 34-0018) South End: 10S/546711.39/4183765.71 North End: 10S/546709.27/4183909.31 c) Northbound Highway 1 (N1)/Southbound 101 (S101) Connector Overcrossing (Viaduct F, Bridge No. 34-0040G) South End: 10S/546732.20/4184044.65 North End: 10S/546813.16/4184076.96 d) N1/S101 Connector Viaduct (Viaduct E, Bridge No. 34-0021) Southeast End: 10S/546682.47/4184138.95 Northwest End: 10S/546616.42/4184190.84 (end of retaining wall) e) Northbound Highway 101 (N101)/Southbound Highway 101 (S101) Connector Undercrossing (Underpass D, Bridge No. 34-0020) South Side: 10S/546586.13/4184137.09 North Side: 10S/546594.37/4184161.30 f) N101/Southbound Highway 1 (S1) Connector Pedestrian Underpass (Subway G, Bridge No. 34-0025G) East Side: 10S/546691.96/4184136.84 West Side: 10S/546676.19/4184138.67 Presidio of San Francisco, Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange HAER No. CA-2270 (page 3) g) N1/N101 Connector Pedestrian Underpass (Subway H, Bridge No. 34-2300G) South Side: 10S/546471.91/4184251.40 Construction Dates: Doyle Drive: 1934–1937 Richardson Avenue and Ramp Connections to Doyle Drive: 1936–1938 Veterans Boulevard (Park Presidio): 1938–1940. Engineer/Designer: Doyle Drive: Joseph B. Strauss, Chief Engineer, and staff of Strauss Engineering Corporation/Strauss and Paine, Inc., with contributions by San Francisco architect Irving F. Morrow, for the Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District (GGB&HD). Richardson Avenue and Ramp Connections to Doyle Drive: Department of Public Works, City and County of San Francisco, in partnership with Joseph B. Strauss, Chief Engineer, and staff of Strauss Engineering Corporation/Strauss and Paine, Inc., for GGB&HD. Veterans Boulevard (Park Presidio): C. H. Purcell (State Highway Engineer), Col. John H. Skeggs (District 4 Engineer, California Division of Highways, Department of Public Works), T. E. Ferneau (Resident Engineer), California Division of Highways, Department of Public Works. Builders: I. Doyle Drive, for the GGB&HD: a) Eaton & Smith: Contract 5, Construction of road and viaducts. b) Alta Electric & Mechanical Company, Inc.: Contract 8, Electricity and lighting. c) Works Progress Administration (WPA): Grading, excavation, military replacement work, and drainage construction under WPA Grant Nos. 3538, 4418, and 7360. II. Richardson Avenue and Ramp Connections to Doyle Drive, for the City and County of San Francisco and GGB&HD: a) WPA: Construction of ramps, at-grade roadway through Presidio, and related military replacement work under WPA Grant Nos. 5640 and 8264. b) M.B. McGowan: Excavation, furnishing and driving piles for elevated connector ramps. c) J. Philip Murphy: Furnishing and erecting structural steel for elevated connector ramps. d) A. G. Raisch: Construction of Richardson Avenue roadway through San Francisco city blocks. III. Veterans Boulevard (Park Presidio), for Division of Highways, California Department of Public Works: Presidio of San Francisco, Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange HAER No. CA-2270 (page 4) a) Macco Construction Company: Unit No. 1, grading and drainage (work performed within Doyle Drive replacement project area). b) Union Paving Company: Unit No. 2, construction of Kobbe (Viaduct B) and Ruckman Avenue (Viaduct C) Undercrossing Bridges. c) M. J. Lynch: Unit No. 3, construction of viaduct for N101/S1 loop ramp (Viaduct E), the N101/S1 Connector Undercrossing (Underpass D), the N1/N101 Connector Pedestrian Underpass (Subway H), and the N101/S1 Connector Pedestrian Underpass (Subway G). d) Union Paving Company: Unit No. 4, construction of the N1/S101 Connector Overcrossing (Viaduct F). e) Union Paving Company: Unit No. 5, paving and lighting work on all viaducts and ramps; drainage. f) Leonard Coates Nurseries, Inc.: Unit No. 6, landscaping. Present Owner: California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Present Use: The Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange roadways stretch through the historic Presidio of San Francisco, part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area since 1994, and currently managed by the Presidio Trust. Comprised of Doyle Drive, Veterans Boulevard (Park Presidio), and Richardson Avenue, the Doyle Drive and Veterans Exchange system carries automobile traffic between the Golden Gate Bridge toll plaza and major San Francisco traffic arteries. Although Doyle Drive has a pedestrian sidewalk, no pedestrian access is currently granted. Significance: The Doyle Drive viaducts and at-grade roadway segments were developed by the GGB&HD in consultation with the U.S. War Department, and constructed as part of the original Golden Gate Bridge project (1933– 1937). Known as the “eastern” or “Marina” approach at the time of its construction, Doyle Drive was engineered by a team headed by the Golden Gate Bridge project’s chief engineer, Joseph B. Strauss. Evidence indicates that the project’s consulting architect, Irving F. Morrow, who was instrumental in developing the bridge’s Art Deco and Streamline Moderne design features, also influenced notable design features of Doyle Drive. Doyle Drive’s High and Low Viaducts (also known respectively as the “Presidio” and “Marina” Viaducts) are both functionally integrated with the Golden Gate Bridge and aesthetically integrated with the bridge’s steel deck trusses, Art Deco tower sheathing, and other architectural details. The High Viaduct is comprised of a steel Pratt-truss structure carried by reinforced-concrete piers that repeat the inflected and fluted pattern of the Golden Gate Bridge towers. The designs of the reinforced-concrete balustrades on each side of both Doyle Drive viaducts also echo the Presidio of San Francisco, Doyle Drive and Veterans Highway Exchange HAER No. CA-2270 (page 5) bridge’s Art Deco motifs in a restrained fashion. Projecting light onto both the Golden Gate Bridge and Doyle Drive roadways are identically designed Streamline Moderne electroliers comprised of curving steel. The Low Viaduct balustrade design and Streamline Moderne electroliers are repeated on the viaduct ramps developed jointly by the GGB&HD and the City of San Francisco to connect the Low Viaduct with Richardson Avenue. The Doyle Drive High and Low Viaducts have been determined individually eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Doyle Drive is a contributor to the Golden Gate Bridge National Historic Landmark (NHL) nomination, which is currently pending.