Presidio Tunnel Tops: A Freeway Becomes a Park Roof
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
The final Presidio story is not military.
It is institutional invention.
The Army left in 1994 after more than two centuries of continuous garrison history under three nations.
The land became part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Congress then created the Presidio Trust to manage most of the property with a mandate that pushed the site toward financial self-sufficiency.
Historic buildings were leased for offices, housing, schools and businesses.
That model remains unusual inside the national-park system.
Preservation here is partly financed by real estate.
Tunnel Tops makes the reinvention physical.
The old Doyle Drive approach to the Golden Gate Bridge once cut through the landscape.
Its replacement placed highway sections in tunnels.
A new park was then built on top, reconnecting the Main Post with Crissy Field.
Infrastructure did not disappear.
It went underground.
Public space occupied the roof.
That is a perfect Presidio ending.
Spain built a military outpost.
Mexico inherited it.
The U.S. Army expanded it.
The bridge cut through it.
The highway was rebuilt.
Then a park stitched over the transportation scar.
Every generation claims to be solving the previous generation's problem.
For locals, Tunnel Tops may simply feel like a successful new park.
Historically, it is a negotiation between preservation, transportation, commercial finance and public access.
The Presidio survived because it kept changing jobs without losing the landscape that made the jobs valuable.