Background 

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake critically damaged San Francisco's Central Freeway, forcing closure and/or retrofit of many portions of the freeway. San Francisco residents, commuters and visitors have had to adapt to this damaged roadway system for the past decade. A Caltrans project to seismically retrofit the Central Freeway has been on-going since July 1998. In November 1998, San Francisco voters approved Proposition B, a measure that authorized Caltrans to replace the Central Freeway with an elevated structure to Market Street and a ground-level boulevard from Market along Octavia Street to Fell Street. The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution in February 1999, establishing a Central Freeway Project Office (CFPO) to oversee the implementation of the Octavia Boulevard Alternative for replacing the Central Freeway. This resolution set forth the roles and responsibilities of various city departments and agencies for project coordination, administration of project funds, and establishing timelines for project milestones. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority is the fiscal agent for the replacement project and is responsible for the formation and staffing of a Citizens Advisory Committee.

The Project

The New Octavia Boulevard along with touchdown of the elevated Central Freeway at Market Street will address regional transportation and mobility concerns, and it will reduce congestion on those surface streets that Central Freeway Corridor commuters have used for substitute access. This facility also addresses the concerns and desires of the local neighborhoods for a livable community.

In conjunction with the new Octavia Boulevard, and as part of the Central Freeway Replacement Project, Caltrans will reconstruct part of the Central Freeway. The freeway will be replaced with a single-deck elevated freeway from Mission Street continuing over Duboce and Valencia Streets to the south side of Market near the intersection of McCoppin Street and Elgin Park. The freeway will come to grade at a signalized intersection at Market Street, serving as the northern-most entrance and exit to the Central Freeway. North of Market, the right-of-way occupied by the freeway structure and Octavia Street will become a 4-lane, two-way roadway from Market Street to Fell Street. Straddling this roadway will be one-way local traffic lanes separated by landscaped medians.