Why San Francisco Razed Embarcadero Freeway | FORGOTTEN

The Embarcadero Freeway, officially known as State Route 480, was a double-decked elevated highway in San Francisco constructed in the 1950s as part of a broader plan to develop an extensive freeway network across the city. Running along the waterfront, it connected the Bay Bridge to the northern neighborhoods but was widely criticized for cutting off the city from its historic waterfront and obstructing views. In 1989, the Loma Prieta earthquake caused significant damage to the freeway, leading to its closure. Public sentiment, which had increasingly favored preserving the city's waterfront character, led to the decision not to repair but to demolish the freeway in the early 1990s. Its removal transformed the Embarcadero area into a vibrant, pedestrian-friendly boulevard, reconnecting the city with its waterfront and sparking significant redevelopment and revitalization.

IT’S HISTORY - Weekly Tales of American Urban Decay as presented by your host Ryan Socash.

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Scriptwriter - Ryan Socash,
Editor - Karolina Szwata,
Host - Ryan Socash
Music/Sound Design: Dave Daddario

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Some images may be used for illustrative purposes only - always reflecting the accurate time frame and content. Events of factual error / mispronounced word/spelling mistakes - retractions will be published in this section.

[rjohnson]

I’m surprised the video didn’t mention the main reason behind the demolition of the Embarcadero, the collapse of the Cypress Freeway in Oakland. Two thirds of the fatalities of the Loma Prieta quake occurred when huge sections of the similarly designed freeway pancaked killing 42 people.

[catylynch]

In 1989, my office, near the Embarcadero, overlooked that hideous structure. When it was being razed, that office was a popular viewing sight for colleagues from all over the building. One of my colleagues had an apartment at The Golden Gateway, on one of the higher floors. He set up a movie camera that looked down the freeway for almost a mile. He took 3-4 pictures, each day, for weeks of deconstruction. When he, ultimately, ran them together, it was quite entertaining to see that monstrosity disappear.

[blakecampbell-taylor]

Its incredible how much damage 1950s-1970s urban planners did to American cities....

[sherrile]

My family lived in Berkeley from 1959 until 1971. We would occasionally make trips to The City to shop at Cost Plus or have ice cream at Ghirardelli Square. I remember the area under the Embarcadero freeway being dark and noisy. I came back for a visit in 1994 and was pleased to see that the “Cementapied”was gone! A major improvement.

[rikkichunn]

I had completely forgotten the Embarcadero Freeway--the freeway to nowhere. It was never completed, so it went from the Bay Bridge to nowhere, carrying very little traffic. The freeway never made it to the Golden Gate Bridge, or to Fisherman's Wharf or even Pier 39. It ended at Broadway, turning the main street of North Beach, the City's historic Italian neighborhood, into a dangerous high speed stroad that immediately plunged into a tunnel and came out--you guessed it--nowhere.

Like most everyone else, I'm glad it's gone.

[amiausUSA]

In November 1990, I was on a school field trip, and the point where we walked to Justin Herman Plaza at Embarcadero, the CA-480 freeway was still "standing", but was no longer in use. I saw some graffiti saying "Worse than useless".

[Hyperious_in_the_air]

My dad worked with the landscape company that built the parks and landscape along the parkway. He traveled to hand-pick the 222 Canary Island date palms that line the center median from a palm nursery in Indio down in SoCal, and was the head of the team that transported them from SoCal all the way to SF for planting. 3 years later their team did the landscape and outdoor design work for Giants stadium, then known as Pac Bell park. He still has the pics in his home office of him carrying me on his shoulders as a 3 year old watching the crews crane in the palm that sits right in front of Fog City Diner, and another from a few years later as a 5y/o standing on the half-finished pitchers mound in the giants stadium.

I'm incredibly proud of my dad for the work he and his team did to make this city a true international icon.

[jckbquck]

I was working as an engineer for SF Muni. We were in the design phase of the new subway extention from the Embarcadero Station (at the time, the terminus) to 4th and King when Loma Prieta hit. I remember the agency's design consultant had to redesign much of the tunnel from the Embarcadero Station to where it surfaced at Gordon Biersch (where Folsom Street ends at the Bay), once the decision was made to demolish the Embarcadero Freeway rather than repair it.

The video failed to mention that there was very, very strong opposition from the leaders of the Chinatown community to the demolition of the Embarcadero Freeway. That stretch of monstrosity brought drivers from the East Bay directly into Chinatown; seen by the leaders of Chinatown as an income stream.

The project managers and the engineers working on the new Embarcadero Roadway (and Muni's F-Line, the new street car line that runs in the middle of the new Embarcadero Roadway) did a fine job. The new Embarcadero Roadway has been a beautiful part of the City ever since.

[georgemcgeorgester]

to be fair, it was an earthquake hazard, and it looked like trash, so i think that it is completely fine that the freeway is gone

[jmoorejr]

At 9:15 - the freeway was not built in the Marina District. The Marina was hit especially hard because of the landfill, but that was separate from the freeway.

[billjohnson]

I walk every morning along a trail beside the Napa river. North of San Francisco. Large sections of the riverbank are lined with gigantic cement blocks and rebar. It is clear that these blocks are chopped up pieces of roadway and railings, etc... you can see road paint and such on some of the pieces. There's twisted rebar everywhere.
Anyway, the old folks in this area tell me that all this concrete used to be the Embarcadero freeway, and this is where they dumped a lot of it. There's something for you 😊

[badkittynomilktonight]

I'm old enough to have driven on this. The views from that upper level were spectacular, so much it was very easy to get distracted from looking where you were going. but at ground level it was a wasteland to be avoided. It's SO much nicer now that the freeway is gone.

[adrianwoods]

I remember driving on it. The view of downtown was awesome. It was like driving in the sky.

[brian_castro]

This highway and its story is similar to the I-93 Central Artery in Boston. I-93 was a similar looking double decker highway that cut through the middle of downtown Boston, cutting it off the waterfront just like in San Francisco. It was nicknamed “The Other Green Monster” because the highway’s pillars were painted the same green shade as Fenway Park’s famous Green Monster. Bostonians hated this highway. By the mid nineties, they started an ambitious project to get rid of it and replace it. An underground highway nicknamed “The Big Dig”.

I think this story would make a great future video.

[petermontoya]

There are foundation footings still left behind from the Embarcadero Freeway. They're just covered by parks and earth. There are small portions of the whole freeway system still in use. I-80 ends at 9th St. The other portion is the Central Freeway. It's not the double deck design, but a steel structure supporting the freeway. The Central Freeway is another eyesore. If you need to travel south there is Highway 101, some of it is elevated. Then there is I-280, most of which is elevated and there is a mile or so stretch that is of the double deck design.

[mikesmith]

I drove on this many times in the late 70's. An eyesore for sure but very convenient back then to get to North Beach etc without using surface streets all the way through the city. Ultimately, they did a great job with the new setup.

[mgescuro]

While the Marina District was damaged, the Embarcadero Freeway never made it to the Marina. THe freeway was in the Downtown Core and SoMA as well as what is now Mission Bay.
There is no trace of the freeway left today. There are some freeways that used to connect to it, but they are now merely freeway exits that are just a few blocks from Oracle Park.
SF also built a subway extension/exit that connects the light rail to the metro system.

[davelichYT]

My memory of the freeway: rollerblading on it with the Friday Night Skate crowd after its closure and before demolition. Super- fun!

[wondersteven]

That area provided some great scenes in Bullitt. The hotel where they kept the bogus Johnny Ross I believe is gone now. Ross' window looked out at the Embarcadero.

[jamesr]

Glad to see mother nature step in to remove what never should have been built.