Central Freeway: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 21:58, 29 March 2007

Revision as of 12:45, 30 April 2007

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The '''Central Freeway''' is a roughly one-mile (1.6 km) elevated [[freeway]] in [[San Francisco, California|San Francisco]], [[California]], running west from [[Interstate 80]], which is signed as [[U.S. Route 101]] and [[Interstate 80]]. It has a speed limit of 50 miles per hour (80 km/h) in both directions all the way to the [[I-80]] - [[U.S. Route 101]] interchange. It was originally intended to continue north to Lombard Street (west of the [[Lombard Street, San Francisco|crooked]] section of the street) and connect to a freeway running from there to the [[Golden Gate Bridge]], but construction was halted after the [[Freeway Revolt]] in the [[1950s]] and the freeway never extended north past Turk Street.

The [[1989]] [[Loma Prieta earthquake]] led to the closure and later demolition of the section between Turk Street and Fell Street. Several yearsIn later1996, the upper deck between Oak and Mission Streets was demolished, making the freeway a single level off-ramp. In [[2003]], the freeway was further truncated back to [[Mission Street]] to be rebuilt—[http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/gate/archive/2003/07/01/carollloyd.DTL controversially]—past Mission Street to end at [[Market Street, San Francisco|Market Street]]. The new one-level structure is twice as wide as the original two-level viaduct, routing freeway traffic onto [[Octavia Boulevard]], an expansion of Octavia Street between Market and Fell Street. The boulevard reconnects the freeway with Fell and Oak Streets. The entire project was [http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/08/BAGBFEJVE21.DTL completed]in September [[2005]].

As the corridor is once again intact, the routing of [[U.S. Route 101]] has reverted to the Central Freeway after post-[[Loma Prieta earthquake|Loma Prieta]] years of bypassing the freeway via 7th Street and [[Interstate 80]], although 101 separates from the freeway at South Van Ness Avenue. All on ramps for the central freeway now show trailblazers for both I-80 and US-101.

==External links==