The Panhandle Freeway (planned Interstate 80)

[Max Rockatansky]

The Panhandle Freeway was an approximately two-mile limited access corridor which was once proposed in the city of San Francisco.  The Panhandle Freeway conceptually would have connected US Route 101 at the Central Freeway west to the planned Interstate 280 freeway by way of Panhandle Park.  The concept of the Panhandle Freeway was added to the State Highway System as Legislative Route Number 223 during 1947.  The adopted alignment of the Panhandle Freeway corridor rescinded in 1955 and was never reestablished.  Between 1964-1968 the Panhandle Freeway was planned as Interstate 80 and later as the second iteration of California State Route 241 circa 1968-1972.

https://www.gribblenation.org/2024/07/the-planned-panhandle-freeway-of-san.html?m=1

[bing101]

Isn't the then proposed Panhandle freeway supposed to be near the western terminus of Historic route Lincoln Highway.

[TheStranger]

Isn't the then proposed Panhandle freeway supposed to be near the western terminus of Historic route Lincoln Highway.

No.  The western terminus for the Panhandle Freeway was always Route 1 (pre-1968 I-280) in Golden Gate Park - which probably contributed to that route being controversial in its 1950s-1960s iteration as the Western Freeway/I-80 extension.

Looking at some of the planned alignments - particularly the 1964 one with the map showing I-80 marked along the Central Freeway - the "not directly parallel to the Panhandle" version of the Western Freeway would have potentially obliterated portions of Haight-Ashbury district.

[The Ghostbuster]

The ramps that would have led from the Central Freeway to the Panhandle/Western Freeway were constructed, although when it became clear the connecting freeway would not be constructed they were undoubtedly connected to Fell St./Laguna St. (NB), and Oak St. (SB). The ramps were torn down in 1996 (SB), and in 2003 (NB) as part of the truncation of the Central Freeway to Market St., and the construction of Octavia Blvd. between Market St. and Fell St. I think I read somewhere that the Panhandle/Western Freeway segment was the most controversial segment of the entire proposed and canceled freeway segments of the San Francisco freeway system, although I'm not sure if that was the case.

[Voyager]

The ramps that would have led from the Central Freeway to the Panhandle/Western Freeway were constructed, although when it became clear the connecting freeway would not be constructed they were undoubtedly connected to Fell St./Laguna St. (NB), and Oak St. (SB). The ramps were torn down in 1996 (SB), and in 2003 (NB) as part of the truncation of the Central Freeway to Market St., and the construction of Octavia Blvd. between Market St. and Fell St. I think I read somewhere that the Panhandle/Western Freeway segment was the most controversial segment of the entire proposed and canceled freeway segments of the San Francisco freeway system, although I'm not sure if that was the case.

I think you're referring to the set of exit ramps right after Market? I thought they were for the also unbuilt Mission Freeway?

[TheStranger]

I think you're referring to the set of exit ramps right after Market? I thought they were for the also unbuilt Mission Freeway?

The Mission Freeway plan (which I don't think ever became a state-approved corridor or a numbered route) along San Jose Avenue/Guerrero Street would have connected with the Central Freeway a little bit before Market Street, right before the Central Freeway bends from going westbound to going northbound.

[The Ghostbuster]

I was referring to the Central Freeway exit ramps that existed in this 1987 (and 2011) overhead shot: https://www.de-chant.com/tim/files/ghosts/octavia.html. I believe those ramps in the 1987 photo would have led to the Panhandle/Western Freeway had it been constructed. I believe the Mission Freeway would have connected with the Central Freeway further south, near the present-day Exit 434A.

[Voyager]

I was referring to the Central Freeway exit ramps that existed in this 1987 (and 2011) overhead shot: https://www.de-chant.com/tim/files/ghosts/octavia.html. I believe those ramps in the 1987 photo would have led to the Panhandle/Western Freeway had it been constructed. I believe the Mission Freeway would have connected with the Central Freeway further south, near the present-day Exit 434A.

Oh you're right! It looks like it would have been a high speed interchange between Fell/Oak.

[Henry]

I think it's amazing that this corridor got proposed several times and rejected every single time. But this has always been an anti-freeway city (a major part of the reason it's the "Boston of the West Coast"), so the rejections were expected, especially when they would affect a pristine city park and a neighborhood whose greatest claim to fame is the Painted Ladies townhouses.

[mrsman]

While acknowledging how disruptive freeways are to those who are near them, the lack of this freeway and a few of the other connectors leaves a gaping hole for traffic.  There is no way for traffic from the Golden Gate Bridge (and all the suburbs north of the bridge) to reach the peninsula or Downtown SF without using surface streets.  A Central Freeway extension towards the Bridge (either directly north and then west along the Marina District or along the Panhandle and then Park-Presidio) would have been a way to make this happen.  (Both freeways were proposed at one time and the Central Freeway was extended as far north as Turk Street.)

[ClassicHasClass]

But, but, traffic bad.

[pderocco]

I wonder what cities would be like if all freeways ended at their boundaries. I'm guessing their economies would be a lot worse, given the difficulty of access.

[Concrete Bob]

It's really too bad that when the freeways were planned for San Francisco, they would have been planned as tunneled.  It would have been an easier sell for state and local planners to the local population. 

[TheStranger]

It's really too bad that when the freeways were planned for San Francisco, they would have been planned as tunneled.  It would have been an easier sell for state and local planners to the local population. 

There were some tunnel plans, but not right away ca. 1948-1956.

480 west of Broadway and the north part of the Central Freeway towards Richardson are two corridors that had mapped out tunnel proposals in the 1960s.

I wonder what cities would be like if all freeways ended at their boundaries

First example of this in North America that comes to mind is Vancouver. 

Winnipeg might count too? (though there aren't many limited-access routes in that area to begin with)

Lexington, KY is an interesting case (the through freeways all do not go to the core of the city and the Bluegrass Parkway ends west of town, but the core is surrounded by a small beltway, New Circle Road)