KCBS Cover Story: One Last Time Along San Francisco's Doyle Drive
SAUSALITO (KCBS) - After more than 60 years driving a familiar route to and from the Golden Gate Bridge, Bay Area commuters will have to get used to a completely new alignment starting Monday.
I drove up and down Doyle Drive for the last time Friday and tried to figure out the new way to go before the route comes down this weekend.
Some of the road signs were already down along the elevated freeway ahead of the demolition that begins Friday night. Come Monday, drivers will drop down through a brand new tunnel through the Presidio.
KCBS Doug Sovern Reports:
"After they come out of the tunnel there's an at-grade section of roadway so they end up on the ground all the way to the Palace of Fine Arts where there will be a brand new "Y" intersection," explained Caltrans' Molly Graham. "So you'll take a left hand turn to get to the Marina. And you'll go forward to get to Lombard."
Related Links
>>Bus, Ferry Service Modified For Doyle Drive Closure
>>Doyle Drive Closure Info
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Lost? Graham hopes you won't be, once you actually drive the new Presidio Parkway configuration. What about drivers coming from San Francisco and heading north?
"They'll be coming through on the temporary detour and then into the tunnel and the bridge and then onto the Golden Gate Bridge," Graham outlined. "This is going to take a while for people to get used to."
The construction of the second half of the new parkway will take three more years, so this is actually just a temporary setup.
The detour includes a new traffic light, right where you normally speed up onto northbound Doyle Drive. Now, you have to stop there to accommodate cars coming from Marina Boulevard.
Graham says there will be some hiccups at first, but in the long run, the new roadway will be better, and safer.
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