Key S.F. Freeway May Close for 2 to 3 Years

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco’s Central Freeway face lift may be going smoother than expected for commuters, but wait until they hear this.

State highway officials have revealed a plan to tear out the backbone of the city’s freeway system for a two- to three-year earthquake retrofit project--including much of the approach to the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

“We’ve got 40 to 50% of the construction in the state taking place just in the Bay Area,” said Paul Hensley, the region’s deputy director for Caltrans.

Construction on the bridge’s San Francisco approach--which hasn’t been upgraded since the 1930s--will begin in the spring of 1998 and will coincide with a retrofit of the San Francisco portion of U.S. 101 and, possibly, the construction of an alternative to the Central Freeway.