NOVEMBER 9, 2025 – During our recent sojourn in San Francisco, our tour-guide-cousins gave us the back story of the pleasant Embarcadero Promenade along the bayside waterfront. In living memory it had been the site of the Embarcadero Freeway, a “permanent” assault on the sensibilities of all decent folk who lived in its vicinity. As even a total stranger to the Bay Area knows, however, the place is earthquake prone, and thus, many things—including man-made monstrosities—aren’t necessarily “permanent.” Such was the case with the Embarcadero Freeway when a “big one” struck on October 17, 1989. With that nudge from Mom Nature, the interactive, concrete monument to gas combustion engine-motor vehicles bit the dust.
One sure-fire trait of our resilient species is to rebuild that which is destroyed, whether by an act of God or by the hand of man (the vast majority of self-destruction in the history of civilization having been committed by men, not women or, to my knowledge, trans people). Led by Rose Pak, a leader of the commercial class of Chinatown, many interests in SF were of the “rebuild” mindset, since one prominent exit of the subject freeway conveniently led straight to the lively commerce and large coffers of people like Pak. A more visionary group, however, “rose” to the occasion and lobbied hard against restoring the freeway and in favor of building a pedestrian walkway along the lines of what ultimately materialized.
Coincidentally, soon after our return to Minnesota, I ran into a neighbor whose educational and vocational background is in urban planning. He was intimately familiar with the Bay Area from an urban planning perspective and supplemented what I’d learned while in San Francisco. His comments served as a springboard to a broader conversation about the role of the U.S. Interstate Highway system developed in the 1950s under President Eisenhower’s initiative.
The central place of cars and trucks in everything American arose from a host of factors, from our geographic expanse to the “driving” force of American capitalism writ large—think Ford, Firestone, freeway contractors and pothole patchers. But it was Eisenhower (aided by development czars such as Robert Moses of New York) who gave the American infatuation and dependence on the (gas-combustion engine) automobile a big shot in each arm and glute. And from what arose Eisenhower’s inspiration? Ah, yes, of course—Hitler’s pride and joy, designed with military logistics highest in mind: die Autobahn. Eisenhower was so impressed by the Führer’s crowning achievement, the general-turned-president wanted to duplicate the idea to “connect” our jumble of states and give interstate commerce (i.e. government-subsidized (“socialist”?) American capitalism) the boost it demanded.
While my neighbor described the awful consequences of freeway-oriented urban planning, I found myself associating the American freeway system with die Autobahn built in the 1930s. I chuckled over the notion that the destruction of many American urban neighborhoods to make way for the “I” was a “Nazi plot,” not a “Communist” one.
To undo the Interstate Highway System and its tributaries across cities instead of between and around them, would take a monumental effort, but the Embarcadero Promenade (and much else in SF) suggests the possibility, at least. Granted, in that case the catalyst was an earthquake, but in addressing normal deterioration of urban infrastructure across our great land, perhaps more sensible land use and neighborhood restoration projects could be pursued under public-private partnerships to revitalize our urban landscapes. Maybe, just maybe, a new approach that “parks” the car on the periphery of urban centers could revitalize American cities for the benefit of . . . all people. I’m encouraged to know that experts such as our neighbor spend their entire careers at this, but where is the political leadership?
As with so many public matters, political leadership steps forth when “followers” (i.e. voters)—you and I—step up.
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© 2025 by Eric Nilsson
