Editing Central Freeway (section)

===Truncation===
In 1989, the [[Loma Prieta earthquake]] damaged the northern part of the elevated roadway, and in 1992 [[Caltrans]] removed the freeway north of Fell Street and rerouted U.S. 101 to exit at Mission Street and onto the portion of Van Ness Avenue between the Central Freeway and Turk Street/Golden Gate Avenue. That year the Board of Supervisors banned any new freeway construction north of [[Market Street (San Francisco)|Market Street]]; a city task force recommended its replacement with a surface [[boulevard]] in 1995. Caltrans closed the double-deck freeway north of Mission Street for rebuilding in late 1996.<!-- yes they did -->

A fight began between the primarily [[Chinese American]] residents of western San Francisco (the [[Richmond District, San Francisco, California|Richmond District]] and the [[Sunset District, San Francisco, California|Sunset District]]), who favored the Caltrans plan to rebuild it because it provided easy access for prospective customers to get to their businesses in the Richmond and Sunset districts, and the primarily [[White people|White]] and [[Black people|Black]] Hayes Valley local residents, who regarded the freeway as urban blight, and were supported by Mayor [[Willie Brown (politician)|Willie Brown]].  Caltrans reopened the northbound (lower) deck to Fell Street in 1997, but did not put a route designation on that deck; several initiatives were passed to remove the lower deck. The final compromise took a two-way freeway down to ground level at Market Street, where [[Octavia Boulevard]]&nbsp;– a widened Octavia Street on the former freeway right-of-way&nbsp;— would continue to Fell Street.<ref>Preservation Institute, [http://www.preservenet.com/freeways/FreewaysCentral.html San Francisco, CA: Central Freeway], accessed November 2007</ref><!--how reliable is this source?--> The completed project opened on September 9, 2005.<ref name=success/><ref>{{cite news|first=Rachel|last=Gordon|title=Boulevard of dreams, the premiere: Hayes Valley freed of freeway -- city ready to celebrate|url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/09/08/BAGBFEJVE21.DTL| work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=September 8, 2005|accessdate=26 April 2013}}</ref> Unfortunately, this compromise design has resulted in creating one of the most dangerous intersections in the city.<ref>{{cite news|first=Danielle|last=Echeverria|title=S.F.’s most dangerous intersections are concentrated in one part of the city|url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/sf/article/most-dangerous-intersections-data-18665443.php| work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=March 4, 2024|accessdate=4 March 2024}}</ref> Furthermore, the [[South of Market]] neighborhood actually got a wider freeway, closer to ground level, in the space where the double-decked road had been.<ref>{{cite news |first=Carol|last=Lloyd|title=Central Freeway plan creates new Oz but leaves South of Market neighbors stuck in Kansas |url=http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/Central-Freeway-plan-creates-new-Oz-but-leaves-3302518.php|work=The San Francisco Chronicle |date=July 1, 2003 |accessdate=26 April 2013}}</ref> The newer section of the Central Freeway between Mission Street and Market Street still remains unsigned, but is maintained by Caltrans.

Between early 2010 and 2013, when it was partially redeveloped for housing, a 2.2-acre site between Laguna, Oak, Fell, and Octavia Streets in Hayes Valley that had been ramps for the elevated freeway was temporarily converted into '''Hayes Valley Farm'''. With a grant from the Mayor's Office of Economic and Workforce Development, raised beds using cardboard as mulch were constructed on the road bed and potted fruit trees and bee hives added.<ref>{{cite web |first=Matthew |last=Roth |url=https://sf.streetsblog.org/2010/02/08/building-a-farm-where-a-freeway-used-to-be/ |title=Building a Farm Where a Freeway Used to Be |website=StreetsBlog SF |date=February 8, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=John |last=King |title=Vandals ruin bee colonies at Hayes Valley Farm |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=July 23, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Vivian |last=Ho |url=https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/2-detained-at-Hayes-Valley-Farm-protest-4602040.php |title=2 detained at Hayes Valley Farm protest |newspaper=San Francisco Chronicle |date=June 14, 2013 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://hayesvalleyfarm.tumblr.com:80/ |title=The Legacy of Hayes Valley Farm |date=February 15, 2016 |website=Hayes Valley Farm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311133531/http://hayesvalleyfarm.tumblr.com/ |archivedate=2018-03-11 |access-date=2018-11-22 |url-status=live }}</ref>{{unreliable source?|date=December 2022}}

In 2022, State Senator [[Scott Wiener]] submitted a letter to a Caltrans district director requesting a study to investigate demolition of the Central Freeway and other nearby elevated freeways.<ref>{{cite news |last=Jung |first=Yoohyun |date=December 3, 2022 |title=Sen. Scott Wiener's dramatic idea for San Francisco: Tear down the Central Freeway |url=https://www.sfchronicle.com/bayarea/article/Sen-Scott-Wiener-s-dramatic-idea-for-San-17629949.php |work=San Francisco Chronicle |accessdate=December 6, 2022}}</ref>