616. Route 480 is from Route 280 near Harrison Street in San
Francisco to the junction of Route 1, Funston approach, and the
approach to the Golden Gate Bridge in the Presidio of San Francisco
passing near the intersection of Lombard Street and Van Ness Avenue. {1968}
72. (a) The department shall do all of the following with respect
to Route 480 in the City and County of San Francisco, commonly known
as the Embarcadero Freeway, if approval for the use of federal
emergency relief funds for that purpose is received from the
appropriate federal agency:
(1) Remove the earthquake-damaged structure as quickly as
possible.
(2) Retain that portion of the right-of-way that is necessary for
new ramps and transfer to the City and County of San Francisco the
remaining portions of the Route 480 right-of-way.
(3) Jointly agree with the City and County of San Francisco on a
system of ramps and city streets that would essentially provide
motorists with accessibility comparable to that provided by Route
480.
(b) The City and County of San Francisco shall do both of the
following:
(1) Construct the system of ramps and city streets and utilize the
Route 480 right-of-way or the proceeds from sales of that
right-of-way for the sole purpose of constructing an alternate system
of local streets pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (a).
(2) Upon the transfer of that right-of-way pursuant to this
section, accept all obligations and liabilities associated with that
right-of-way.
(c) The total amount of state and federal funds to be expended by
the state for the purposes of this section shall not exceed the
amount of state and federal funds which would have been expended to
repair and reopen the segment to traffic as a state highway.
(d) Nothing in this section or Section 253.8 shall be construed to
prohibit the selection, development, and operation of a project
pursuant to Section 143.
This freeway ran from the approach of the Bay Bridge (Route 80)
to a point just north of Broadway in San Francisco. It was known as the
"Golden Gate Freeway" and, later on, the "Embarcadero Freeway". According
to Scott Oglesby, it was designed in 1953 and opened in 1959.
The freeway had a very unique design and history. First, it was
a double-decker, with southbound traffic going on the top deck; it was some
two miles long. Second, at the beginning of the route were many complex
ramps and interchanges, including ramps to a bus station. The freeway
slivered from the approach of the Bay Bridge towards the Embarcadero,
San Francisco's waterfront, where it hovered over it for a mile or so,
before it ended at Broadway. According to Daniel Faigin, it was approved
as an interstate but was then rejected as one in August, 1965, which would
explain why Route 480 (a would-be infant interstate of Route 80) is
signed as a state highway.
According to David Kriske, the route was part of a grand scheme to
build a complete network of freeways in San Francisco. Route 480 itself
was to connect the Bay Bridge and the Golden Gate Bridge, hence the route
designation. (There were even plans to build it as an underwater tunnel!)
Also, there were to be several other freeways to feed the route as well.
Thanks to the successful San Francisco "Freeway Revolt", a movement
that stopped new freeway design and construction in that city, such plans
never materialized. Route 480, the Embarcadero Freeway, would become the
scapegoat of this revolt. It blocked views of the historic Ferry Building
from Market Street as well as the rest of the bay. According to Oglesby,
In 1968, the S.F. Board of Supervisors voted 6-5 to stop building the
freeway amid pressure from the state to finish the project. This left
Route 480 where it was, going only as far as Broadway.
By 1973, there was already talk of tearing it down. In June of that
year, Sen. Alan Cranston talked with the Federal Highway Administration
about the route. They said that they could tear it down and not have to
worry about paying back federal funds that were used to build it, but they
had to build a replacement of some sort. On November 5, 1985, the S.F.
Board of Directors voted to tear down what was left.
Of course, they couldn't do it because the freeway was still proving
to be useful, hooking up the Bay Bridge with the central city, North Beach,
and Chinatown.
Strangely enough, according to the city's website on the "New
Embarcadero", in 1985, the San Francisco Planning Commission certified
an environmental impact report which desired to use money alotted to Route 280,
which was supposed to meet Route 480, for waterfront projects that included
bikeways, light rail, and other transportation projects on the Embarcadero.
In the package was a suggestion for the removal of Route 480 freeway, but in
1986, a voter initiative in the ballot supported the retention of the freeway,
and resulted in the freeway deleted from the proposed improvements.
In 1989 (guess) the Loma Prieta Earthquake hit the place
with a 7.1 on the Rhicter Scale. Routes 80, 280, and 880 (also double-
deckers) were terribly hit. (Route 480 should not be confused with Route
880, which collapsed on itself, killing 42 people.) That was something else.
While people were quick to rebuild Route 80 (and not as quick as Routes
280 and 880), the San Franciscans somehow found the earthquake as an
excuse to get rid of Route 480. The freeway suffered virtually no damage,
yet retrofitting the freeway was found to be more expensive ($700 million)
than to tear it down. So it was closed immediately, never to be reopened.
According to Fagin, it was deleted from the State Route list in 1991. The
demolition began on February 27 of that year and ended in 1993. (what a
thought, a freeway being demolished). I bet that, somewhere in San Francisco,
someone had a party in celebration of the demolition.
While the freeway was closed, some skaters took advantage of the carless
roadway to skate. According to David G. Miles Jr., "members of the Golden
Gate Park Skate Patrol found an irresistible urge to skate" on this new freeway.
He described the freeway having a "hard, smooth concrete with long downhill
sections that was a skater's dream." The Highway Patrol would hand out tickets
to those that skated on the closed freeway.
All that's left of Route 480 is the stub going to the Transbay Terminal
and Fremont Avenue at Route 80. Until about 1997, if you headed east on
Route 80 toward the Bay Bridge, you would still see the signs pointing out
Route 480 as the Last San Francisco Exit (Fourth Street obtains the title
now), but an add-on was given: In a yellow back and black letters, a "CLOSED"
sign goes over the lane arrow. Heading west and down the Fremont Avenue exit,
the former freeway was represented as an exit to Broadway; that sign too had
the cold "CLOSED" sign overlapping it. Those signs are gone now. Sad, isn't it?
However, there is far more history for this route than what you've
just read. To learn more about Route 480, visit my sources for this story,
of which I would like to thank deeply, Kurumi's and Daniel Faigin's
respective pages on Route 480, as well as this page on the Interstate 480
Freeway Plan by David Kriske, David G. Miles Jr.'s essay on the San Francisco
Roller Skating scene, and San Francisco Cityspan's page on Waterfront projects.
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