One hundred percent of tree material removed during the preconstruction activity was recycled or salvaged by Green Waste Recycle Yard in Richmond, California.
More than 50 native plant species, for a total of 45,000 plants, were collected in the Presidio prior to construction and are now being grown in the Presidio Nursery.
Many of the piles for the high viaduct will be 12 feet in diameter, requiring a special oscillator rig for installation of the piles. Larger, deeper piles mean fewer piles are necessary, opening views from the Presidio to the bay.
The new parkway will allow pedestrians and bicyclists to cross over or under Doyle Drive in accordance with the Presidio Trails and Bikeways Master Plan.
The new parkway will have larger 11- and 12-foot lanes to accommodate buses and provide an improved experience for drivers.
Each weekday, nearly 120,000 vehicles travel between Marin and San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge along Doyle Drive.
The start of construction of the Presidio Parkway was accelerated by more than a year thanks to the receipt of $50 million in federal stimulus funding.
The new parkway will improve traffic safety by including continuous shoulders for emergency and disabled vehicles.
The first set of tunnels, the Battery Tunnels, will be constructed north of the San Francisco National Cemetery and span 853 feet.
Halleck Street will be closed and temporarily removed during construction. Upon completion of the Main Post Tunnels, Halleck Street will be restored over the top of the new tunnels.
The Main Post Tunnels will be constructed north of the Main Post parade grounds. These will be the longer of the two sets of tunnels, spanning 1,017 feet.
$3.6 million went directly to small and local businesses for the project’s first preconstruction contract (tree removal and native plant and seed collection).
The new parkway will include extended bus bays on both sides of Richardson Avenue.
Seismic safety will be achieved in 2011 when traffic is transferred onto new structures and the temporary bypass adjacent to the existing facility.
A robust Disadvantaged and Small Business Enterprise Participation Program has been established to actively engage businesses throughout San Francisco, the Bay Area, and California to participate in the project.
The northbound and southbound roadways will be separated by a wide, landscaped median improving driver safety and creating a parkway feel.
Both sets of tunnels will be constructed using the cut and cover method by digging into the natural bluffs and covering the tunnels with a green pedestrian corridor.
Including a temporary bypass in the construction phasing reduced the construction duration by nearly two years.
Concrete is used more than any other man-made material in the world

History

Replacement Project History | Doyle Drive History | The Doyle Drive Historic Corridor

The Doyle Drive Historic Corridor

Doyle Drive Low Viaduct<< back

Aerial view of the Low Viaduct under construction, 1934. San Francisco History Center, San Francisco Public Library

DOYLE DRIVE’S LOW VIADUCT stretches 3,308 feet from the battery bluff north of the San Francisco National Cemetery to the east (Marina District) edge of the Presidio. The Golden Gate Bridge and Highway District (GGB&HD) built the Low Viaduct as part of the original Golden Gate Bridge project between 1934 and 1937. It conformed to the Army’s stipulation that the bridge’s approach roads have no at-grade crossings with Presidio roads so that communication within the military reservation would not be affected. Military officials also required the GGB&HD to undertake extensive relocation, reconstruction, and new construction of utilities and buildings as compensation for Presidio facilities demolished or otherwise affected by the construction of the Low Viaduct.

FEARING TRAFFIC JAMS, in 1932 Marina District residents protested the GGB&HD’s plan to build a single Doyle Drive ramp connection with Marina Boulevard. In response, the City and County of San Francisco pressured the GGB&HD to instead connect Doyle Drive with Lombard Street/Highway 101. GGB&HD Chief Engineer Joseph B. Strauss initially resisted the City’s demand. Soon, however, Strauss began promoting a plan to connect Doyle Drive both to Lombard Street and to Beach Street. Although construction of the Low Viaduct began in 1934, the controversy over Doyle Drive’s street connections in the Marina District lasted for several years.

The Low Viaduct nearing completion and workers making improvements to the Presidio, 1936. Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, San Francisco, California

IN EARLY 1936, amid growing public controversy, GGB&HD Director A. R. O’Brien warned of the “tremendous loss that will accrue to the taxpayers if these outlets are not ready when the bridge opens.” The GGB&HD and the City and County of San Francisco finally reached a compromise. The GGB&HD would build its originally planned Doyle Drive ramp linking the Low Viaduct with Marina Boulevard but trucks and busses would be prohibited from accessing Doyle Drive from Marina Boulevard. The city would take the lead in constructing Richardson Avenue and its ramps, including viaduct segments, between Lombard Street and Doyle Drive as a Works Progress Administration (WPA) project. The Low Viaduct, the Marina Boulevard ramp, Richardson Avenue, and the off-ramp from Doyle Drive to Richardson Avenue were all completed by the time the Golden Gate Bridge opened to traffic in May 1937. The on-ramp from Richardson Avenue to Doyle Drive was completed in January 1938.

ca. 1932 illustration of Strauss’s Beach Street plan for a grand boulevard that would have carried Doyle Drive traffic through part of the Marina District and featured the Palace of Fine Arts. Strauss commissioned Bay Area artist Chesley Bonesstell to produce this rendering of his Beach Street plan, which the City rejected. Courtesy of Water Resources Center Archives, University of California, Berkeley