State Sen. Scott Wiener has a controversial idea to reconfigure San Francisco’s landscape: Tear down the freeway that snakes through SoMa and spills into Hayes Valley, pumping traffic from the Bay Bridge into the city’s downtown core.
In a letter to Caltrans District 4 Director Dina El-Tawansy, Wiener asked the agency to study demolition of the Central Freeway, part of which was already razed and transformed into what’s now Octavia Boulevard. He also pointed to at least two other freeway structures that he says have outlived their usefulness — the Bayshore viaduct, and the Interstate 280 viaduct between the Highway 101 interchange and the 4th and King off-ramps.
The freeways generate pollution and pose safety risks to communities around them, and have cut off low-income communities of color in San Francisco, the state lawmaker said. The Central Freeway and the Bayshore viaducts straddle the Mission District, and the I-280 spur isolates Bayview-Hunters Point from much of the rest of the city.
Wiener said in the letter the passage of the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law spurred conversations about the possibility of demolishing freeways to reconnect communities, particularly surrounding the Central Freeway.
Its northern end was damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, prompting a years-long battle, which included at least four ballot measures, over whether to rebuild or remove the structure. Ultimately, a 1/3 -mile stretch of the freeway was demolished and replaced by Octavia Boulevard.
“We’ve seen what happens when you remove a freeway,” Wiener said in an interview Saturday, pointing to Hayes Valley’s rejuvenation after the last of concrete ramps were finally torn down in 2004. In the years sinse, Octavia Boulevard has turned into a showcase for glassy apartment buildings and a beer garden inside a shipping container.
“The transformational opportunities of removing these structures warrant serious consideration given the immense land use and housing potential of the highly buildable center-city land around and under the Central and Bayshore viaducts,” the lawmaker also said in his letter to Caltrans.
Now, Wiener and some community groups want the city and state to seriously evaluate removing the rest of the Central Freeway — and other freeways that divide neighborhoods and spew harmful emissions. The lawmaker’s letter to Caltrans was co-signed by a dozen organizations, including the Hayes Valley Neighborhood Association.
Caltrans did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Wiener said he was told the agency is working on a response. It is unclear yet how removing these freeway structures would impact motorists or the surrounding neighborhoods.
Wiener’s inquiry included questions on the costs and logistics involved in the upkeep and retrofit projects for Central Freeway and others. “Tearing down a freeway is hard. There’s a cost involved. It requires changes to the traffic flow. It’s a monumental undertaking, and the politics is challenging.” he wrote.
“It’s going to take some time and we want (Caltrans and the city) to get it right,” the state senator continued. “We want them to be thorough and I’m sure they will be.”
Yoohyun Jung is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: yoohyun.jung@sfchronicle.com
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Sen. Scott Wiener's dramatic idea for San Francisco: Tear down the Central Freeway - San Francisco Chronicle
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