Freeway Sign “Eyesore” Comes Down on Cesar Chavez

With an ongoing overhaul, western Cesar Chavez Street is looking less and less like a freeway these days, but the changes aren't only happening on the ground. At about 2 a.m. Friday morning, city crews took down an overhead navigational freeway sign pointing drivers to the 101 freeway -- the kind of motor-oriented infrastructure expected to be seen on freeways themselves, not on a street running through a neighborhood.

By Aaron Bialick

4:01 PM PDT on August 13, 2013

With an ongoing overhaul, western Cesar Chavez Street is looking less and less like a freeway these days, but the changes aren’t only happening on the ground. At about 2 a.m. Friday morning, city crews took down an overhead navigational freeway sign pointing drivers to the 101 freeway — the kind of motor-oriented infrastructure expected to be seen on freeways themselves, not on a street running through a neighborhood.

Bernalwood posted pictures of the removal of the “ugly-ass roadsign” taken by a couple, Lynn and Margo, who said they have lived with the “eyesore” at their home on Hampshire Street for 25 years.

Cesar Chavez, previously known as Army Street, was widened in the mid-20th century to serve as an “arterial” connector between 101 and the Mission Freeway, which was envisioned by freeway planners but never built. Step by step, the mistakes which the Freeway Revolt didn’t prevent are slowly being undone.

Streetscape work on western Cesar Chavez is expected to be completed in January, according to the Department of Public Works.

Aaron Bialick

Aaron was the editor of Streetsblog San Francisco from January 2012 until October 2015. He joined Streetsblog in 2010 after studying rhetoric and political communication at SF State University and spending a semester in Denmark.

Cesar Chavez | Highway Removal

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