S.F. Moves to Explain Freeway Plan

Shaken by a “vast number” of complaints about a proposal to demolish an unfinished waterfront freeway, the Board of Supervisors voted Monday to hold an additional public hearing before giving its approval.

The board voted 10 to 0 to preside as a group over the new public hearing Nov. 4. Meanwhile, they said, they will try to more fully inform residents and state officials about the plan.

Supervisor Quentin L. Kopp, one of the board majority in favor of the project, proposed the delay after recounting the “vast number” of complaints he said he has received since the project became widely known last week.

Much of the opposition, he noted, seems to be “based on less than a full understanding” of the entire project. Other supervisors agreed.

“Tearing down the Embarcadero Freeway is a relatively small part of this project,” Supervisor Nancy G. Walker said. “. . . The majority of the informed electorate out there is apparently unaware of this.”

The most unusual part of the package would tear down most of the 1.2-mile Embarcadero Freeway as well as three-tenths of a mile of an unused part of the incomplete Interstate 280 freeway.

The plan also calls for rebuilding existing waterfront roads as a six-lane, tree-lined “grand boulevard,” expanding local streetcar service, adding new on- and off-ramps to remaining freeways and redesigning downtown traffic.

“The issue is much more than, Do we tear down this freeway or do we not?” Supervisor Doris Ward said. “There are many more pieces to the puzzle.”