John Muir Drive – San Francisco CA

Description

The federal Works Progress Administration (WPA) constructed San Francisco’s John Muir Drive as part of a larger Lake Merced-area road development project undertaken during the 1930s.

Healy, p. 43:

This improvement contributed to the State plan of connecting main highways by broad intersecting arteries, in this case making an arterial connection from Sunset Boulevard around Lake Merced to Skyline Boulevard and to Junipero Serra and Alemany Boulevards and to Highway 101, thus aiding the traffic problem and producing a landscaped boulevard of rare value for recreation and scenic beauty, skirting the shores of Lake Merced. The work performed consisted of grading, rocking and surfacing a finished 60 foot drive, more than three miles long. It involved quarrying 13,000 cubic yards of rock, excavation of 250,000 cubic yards of earth, building of 133,000 cubic yeards of rock walls, 133,000 square feet of equestrian paths, 15,455 feet of rock gutters, 6,000 square feet of log retaining walls, rubble masonry walls, rock steps and coping, reinforced concrete culvert 6′ x 7′ dimensions, sewer, sloping and landscaping.