The current structure IS unsafe. It is not possible to “bring the current structure up to modern standards.” It is possible to retrofit to buy some time but it is not possible to economically retrofit the current structure to meet the post Northridge seismic standards.

Most importantly, it reconnects the Presidio with the Bay by sinking Doyle Drive underground. This is a good project.

It’s dangerous:

The last fatal accident on Doyle Drive was in 2003. Freeways built to the standards the Presidio Freeway will be built to have many fatal accidents every year.

It is structurally unsafe:

A San Francisco County Transportation Authority staff member stated at a public meeting that it is not about to fall down. The complete Southern Approach to the Golden Gate Bridge (Doyle Drive)consists of three viaducts. One is owned by the Golden Gate Bridge District and the other two are owned by Caltrans. The Bridge District has strengthened its viaduct and brought it up to modern standards. Caltrans has done some seismic bracing on its viaducts so they won’t fall down in the next earthquake. Somebody or something is stopping them from doing a complete job like the Bridge District did on its viaduct. As to that 2 out of 100, very little of it has to do with structural strength. Most of it it how closely it adheres to arbitrary design standards.

It is old; it has reached the end of its useful life:

It is the same age as the Golden Gate Bridge. Is someone going to propose that the bridge be torn down and replaced with something wider?

I don’t know why the seventh lane has been included in the redesign, but a number of people I talked to told me that the shoulders are required by state law.

-This is not a freeway expansion or widening: four lanes of travel in the peak direction. It now provides 4 lanes in the non-peak direction and allows Saturday and Sunday reverse-peak traffic to not spill over into the Marina. I’m sure they’ll appreciate it.
-Dumping all the GG bridge traffic onto at-grade boulevard through the Presidio(presumably the next best option)? That would be far worse! No matter how much you price Doyle Drive, traffic volumes will remain high. Marin users have a very low elasticity of demand for tolls. Grade separation is entirely appropriate and the tunnels will allow the Main Post to be connected seamlessly with the waterfront. How is that a bad thing?
-The proposed design improves views from places like the National Cemetery by lowering the grade of Doyle Drive.
- 12 ft. lanes help GG transit’s reliability and operability on Doyle Drive.
- Even if the will of the people were behind it, there is no viable transit option to replace Doyle Drive besides GG bus service and ferries. BART or SMART will not go over the GG bridge and tunneling under the Bay is a pipe dream.

In all seriousness though (this comment goes beyond your true point JM, now I’m digressing), what I’m suggesting with my seemingly absurd point is not so much anti-car zealotry, but rather an argument for equity and the real possibility of mode choice. Even if we were to have radical and revolutionary changes in transportation policy, built-space, etc. in the bay area as a whole (let’s say) there would still need to be at least two lanes of automotive (truck, bus) roadways where Doyle Drive currently is. Instead of six lanes dedicated to machines that are increasingly impractical to make and environmentally harmful though, some of the space would be reapportioned to rail, etc. We have to denaturalize the notion of the automobile (just because there are still times now when ‘it is ok,’ it ‘is best to use a car’ instead of a more sustainable mode, in the future this need not be the case). And not only that, that such a difference is possible, but also that it can be comfortable. I think seemingly hyperbolic ideas such as the one above in my first comment are important for bringing that future into being. ((the same snags and difficulties of parsing CM’s effectiveness/ineffectiveness apply to this claim for hyperbole)).

In the meantime, Obama is going to offer us tax incentives to buy new cars this year.

Maybe it needs to collapse completely before people stop playing hot potato with it and fix it in such a way that serves the public well with as little destructiveness as possible. Then at least the politicians could stop the ribbon cutting and duck as people throw Doyle Drive debris at them for screwing this up.