5th Street Plaza

400 Block of 5th Street
South of Market

From 2003 to 2009, the sound of work crews was a constant in the South of Market area due to a $471 million undertaking to retrofit the western approach to the Bay Bridge.  (This construction should not be confused with the replacement of the Eastern Span of the Bay Bridge.)

One result of the undertaking is called 5th Street Plaza.

Photo Courtesy of  Bay Bridge Info

Seismic safety retrofit work on the West Approach — bordered by 5th Street and the Anchorage at Beale Street — involved completely removing and replacing this one-mile stretch of Interstate 80 and six on- and off-ramps in its original footprint. This work occurred while more than 280,000 vehicles flowed daily in the midst of this essential construction.

The area in 1942 – Photo Courtesy of San Francisco Public Library – Upper Decks were installed in the 1960’s.

The West Approach originally had one foundation system supporting both an upper and lower deck configuration from 3rd Street to Beale Street. Each deck now has its own independent column and foundation support system, a crucial aspect of making the West Approach seismically sound.  This is extremely important in light of the pancaking that happened on the upper deck of the Eastern approach to the Bay Bridge during the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake.

Work on the 72-year-old structure began in 2003 and was completed in early 2009. To keep traffic flowing, and to enable work to occur in the densely populated residential and commercial hub south of Market Street, builders performed a ”retrofit by replacement,” one of the most complex projects in Caltrans (California Department of Transportation) history.

The plaza sits between two freeways.  It means that it has no function other than open space, basically over run with homeless.  And yet it serves as a nice place for people to put plaques honoring things.

San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge

A Lasting Memorial to James Rolph Jr.

Mayor of San Francisco Governor of California
1912-1931                1931-1934

Tireless leader of his city and his state “Sunny Jim”
Worked throughout his career for the crossing of the
world’s largest landlocked harbor so that Oakland
and The East Bay cities could be linked together with San
Francisco as one community
“Si Momumentum Quaeris Circumspice”

California Toll Bridge Authority
September 7, 1934
Rededicated by the citizens of California
On the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary
Of the opening of the Bridge

November 12, 1986
Plaque donated by Jay Platt – Designer’s Mfg., Inc. SF

The Bridge is National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark #132. Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks dare designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers.  The program began in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United States (National Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks) and the rest of the world (International Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks). As of 2012, there are 256 landmarks included on the list.

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This plague does have a lot of great early American and early San Francisco History.  It is worth the read if you are near the area.