SAN FRANCISCO | Projects: Under Construction, Approved, and Proposed

[BTinSF]

^^^For 26 years I have lived at Golden Gate & Franklin and the closest "shopping street" to me (Van Ness aside) is probably Hayes. Go there--or through there--just about every day.

There was an extensive planning process for the boulevard starting with where it should end--whether the freeway ramp should cross Market St, come to ground level a few blocks south of Market or at Market (the option chosen). Then there were various designs for the boulevard itself--all endlessly debated at public meetings in the usual San Francisco way. I think (it's been so long, memory is hazy) the design chosen was actually the product of some urban design maven who lived in the area. The intention was to separate the local traffic from the through traffic headed from the freeway to the western and northern parts of the city. It looked awfully complicated to me then and still does. But, like I said, I wanted to keep the freeway. Gough St. has been a traffic-choked mess since it came down which makes it much more annoying for me to drive to the Mission.