No one has mentioned the freeway revolt in San Francisco in the early sixties which stopped a massive network of highways connecting to the Golden Gate Bridge. The monstruous elevated Embarcadero Freeway was to be extended thru the heart of Fishermans Wharf and the Marina towards the Bridge. Another freeway was to cut thru the Panhandle and Golden Gate Park towards 19th Avenue. This plan was concocted in the late forties and early fifties and preceeded any BART project. There is no question in my mind that double decking the GG Bridge was required and contemplated in this long range scheme. The Bridge management had to be in on the planning.

These atrocities did not come to pass and the Bridge District faced the possibility of going out of existence, thus was born the bus and ferry service as a means to preserve the empire.

I don't think the problem here is one of engineering but of turf and mindset. The turf issue is simple: autos first, transit last. It is the same turf war that the Key System lost on the Bay Bridge. The GG Bridge wants to reserve the extra capacity for autos and trucks for two reasons. One is that tolls actually make money while transit fares lose money. Second is loyalty to the highway lobby which is understandable since road interests campaigned for the construction of the bridge in the first place.

The mindset is one area where I think some softening is possible. Perhaps a second deck for autos and light rail. No BART please.

I wouldn't believe BARTspeak for a moment. This is the same outfit that conspired for years to usurp the the Caltrain right of way to San Jose. That was what the airport extension was really all about. Fortunately the high speed rail project should lock BART out of that corridor for good.

BART is a sprawl inducer. It is a friend of developers not of the environment. That is why highway interests have no problem with BART, because it enables endless suburbs, where after all automobiles always remain king.

But I could kinda imagine BART in Novato - instead of worrying about the noise of freight trains the locals could enjoy the screech and rattle of the BART elevated from one side of the valley to the other.