The San Francisco Central Freeway, like many other freeways built in the 1950s, displaced existing residents and divided neighborhoods, causing significant cultural, economic, and health impacts on community members.

Since 2019, Multistudio has been collaborating with Badiner Urban Planning, BASE Landscape Architecture, and ARUP to spark conversations in various forums around the many potential opportunities for the future of the Central Freeway. Recent events, including the SF Design Week “Can We Re-Envision SF’s Unintended Division?”, the SPUR event “Freeway Rethink: Burying Hospital Curve and Removing the Central Freeway” and episode five of the KPBS podcast “Freeway Exit” offer important explorations toward next steps.

The shared goal of those collaborative efforts is to create a roadmap toward reconnecting communities around the Central Freeway while fostering equitable and resilient neighborhoods. To achieve that, we believe we collectively need to do more. Our partnership advocates for the State of California and the City of San Francisco to apply, or support nonprofit organizations’ efforts to apply, for grants and other funding to conduct broader engagements, including feasibility studies for traffic, financial and environmental modeling, hydrology, urban district design guidelines, and other key measures. These planning studies can reach and inform wide stakeholders and make San Francisco a more transit-oriented, socially and environmentally just, and resilient city. 

San Francisco has had past success in reconnecting neighborhoods along transit corridors; in 1989, sections of the Central Freeway were damaged during an earthquake and replaced with boulevards in the Embarcadero and Hayes Vally neighborhoods. The removal of the highway in these neighborhoods sparked new growth and reconnected the public to the waterfront and neighborhood parks.

In addition to the events mentioned prior, we were honored to host bilingual interactive activities at the recent Elgin Park Block Party in June 2024, co-organized by Vision Boulevard, Greening Projects, and Multistudio. We invited attendees to share their observations and uncover their desires and visions for potential use of the land along the Central Freeway corridor. Over 100 people who live around the Central Freeway and other parts of San Francisco were present at the event and participated in the activities. We are grateful for all participants’ time and thoughtful feedback, which provides a very initial sample of  potential next steps.

What We Heard

Challenges

Participants who chose to engage during the Elgin Park Block Party shared many interconnected challenges posed by the Central Freeway, not only its physical presence but the air and noise pollution it brings, as well as the impediment to providing open space and greenery.

Participants noted flooding as a persistent issue around the Central Freeway. There are also concerns about insufficient affordable housing, food access, and thriving local small businesses.

Priorities

In activity responses, participants prioritized a habitable streetscape oriented toward pedestrians, cyclists, and transit; creating walkability, general safety, and connectivity to other parts of the city. An overwhelming number of participants indicated a desire for more open urban greenery where residents could gather in various scales and usages, such as parks, sidewalks, and urban green infrastructure.

Participants additionally expressed a desire for affordable and inclusive housing with mixed-use and shared amenities. Other desires included access to diverse and fresh food, resources for the unhoused and support for local businesses. There was also an interest in spaces for sports, art, and culture. Those who attended also shared a strong desire to reconnect the SoMA District to the Mission District, and the Octavia-Market to the Design District.

Recommendations

The feedback we’ve gathered through these informal sessions indicates a need for further engagement, visioning, and feasibility studies.

The “Reconnecting Communities Pilot” grant program is an opportunity to apply for federal funding to support these needed studies. Information and workshop sessions regarding precedents and case studies of other freeway removal projects, creek daylighting, community land trusts, green benefit districts, and more would be instrumental in providing local communities with the tools to create a more vibrant neighborhood of their own.

For our San Francisco neighbors, we encourage you to share the report with your family, friends, neighbors, and leaders representing your district. We also invite you to sign the petition to urge the city agencies and Caltrans to apply, or support community organizations to apply, for the “Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program grants” due September 30th.