Octavia Boulevard Off-Ramp Opens Friday

The Examiner is reporting that the new Central Freeway off-ramp which touches down at Market and Octavia will open on Friday.

As always, there are those that applaud the new boulevard and those that will never be happy.

"Alison Miller, who lives on neighboring Stevenson Street, said the ramp is a worse blight than the old one because it is twice as wide and lower to the ground. Miller said while Hayes Valley is rejoicing, her neighborhood is grieving."

On the other hand, the number of people who have benefitted from the change is far greater than those inconvenienced. The central freeway was there before and now it's back. Anyone who thought they could fight a public referendum that was passed overwhelmingly by voters was disillusioned at best.

Additionally, we will see HOUSING built where the rest of the freeway once stood. "Roughly 1,000 new housing units, half market-rate and half affordable, will be built on the seven acres of vacant land where the freeway came down. The sale of that land will pay for the boulevard. More housing is anticipated in the area as part of the Market-Octavia Better Neighborhoods Plan, which lays out urban design, open space and transportation for the area. The plan is expected to go to the Planning Commission later this year."

There's no way to please everyone all of the time, but for the relatively few unhappy people that live around Valencia & Duboce, this is a small price to pay for the huge benefits that will be reaped by the city as a whole.