News, Views and Analysis from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and the Association of Bay Area Governments
Just weeks prior to San Francisco’s devastating earthquake and fire of April 18, 1906, the Miles Brothers affixed a hand-cranked Bell & Howell camera to the front of a cable car, and filmed its journey eastward along Market Street from 8th Street to the Ferry Building. Read More
It's hard to imagine the Bay Area without the Bay Bridge, but alas, such a world did exist before the 1930s. Read More
Trains on the Bay Bridge? A streetcar rolling down Sloat Boulevard in San Francisco? Rails out to the Cliff House? Read More
The San Francisco Examiner dutifully reported on Oct 16, 1940 plans to hand out cards to "autoists" who used the Bay Bridge, outlining seven rules for safe travel. Four years after it opened, officials felt the need to give people advice on how to drive the span.
A website — www.whatmighthavebeen.squarespace.com — highlights (with illustrations) a number of plans around the region that would have given the Bay Area a much different look today if they had come to fruition. Read More