San Francisco

Mayor, Supervisor Call for Plan to Tear Down I-280 Extension for Train Line

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and Supervisor  Scott Wiener are proposing a plan to tear down the Interstate 280 extension through Mission Bay and replace it with a train line.

Both city leaders would like San Francisco to study plans for the idea that would allow Caltrain trains and eventually high-speed trains into the city's Financial District.

"I think the depot right now is something that I think people readily see as something that perhaps there might be a better use for that," Lee said.

Under the proposal, I-280 from about Mariposa to AT&T Park would be torn down and the rail yard at 4th and King streets would also disappear. Commercial and residential development would replace the freeway and rail yard, according to the plan.

Lee brought up the idea at a meeting with transportation officials last week.

The plan would allow trains to be rerouted into a tunnel that would travel up Third Street -- connecting the new Golden State Warriors arena and the AT&T Park plan with the Transbay Terminal under construction in the Financial District.

Lee on Monday admitted there were lots of questions from transportation officials. In addition, Caltrain officials were not enthusiastic about giving up the rail yard at 4th and King streets.

"We don't have enough space in other locations along our system to store the trains and they need to be there to begin service in the morning when customers arrive at the stadium," said Jayme Ackemann of Caltrain.

The Fourth and King station is the busiest in the Caltrain system that carries 60,000 passengers a day. However, Wiener, who has been a board leader on transportation issues, said the rail yard is a waste of space.

"It's ridiculous that we're taking up all this valuable land storing rail cars that should be stored elsewhere," Wiener said. "And this is a good opportunity to study all of that."

A spokesperson for the Metropolitan Transportation Agency said the amount of space identified in the plan to remove the I-280 freeway would open up an enormous amount of room.

The plan to tear down the extension could also severely impact the neighborhood where the freeway would come to an end, transportation officials said.

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