Downtown Ferry Terminal Gates B & E, San Francisco, CA

Following the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and the resulting disruption to transportation and transit, demand for ferry service increased dramatically and became a necessary component of movement within the Bay Region. ROMA was engaged by the Port of San Francisco to prepare a master plan for new ferry services to the Ferry Building in San Francisco from existing and future planned ferry terminals throughout the bay. In preparing this plan, ROMA worked closely with the Port and regional and local transportation agencies to strengthen connections of the ferries to landside transit, pedestrians and bicyclists and to reinforce the sense of this place as both a place of gathering and a cross-roads for the city as a whole. The Downtown Ferry Terminal Plan called for transit improvements that would be integrated with enhanced public spaces and accessibility to the waterfront. Specifically, it envisioned public access promenades around the entire Ferry Building and on the bayside to interconnect the two new ferry basins – one to the north (Gates A and B) and one to the south of the Ferry Building (Gates E, F and G). These two basins would strengthen orientation and a sense of place and, at the same time, alleviate the potential conflicts of cross-over traffic of ferries from the north bay with those of the central and south bay. The plan also identified the need for a major new breakwater in the South Basin, to protect vessels from northeasterly storm waves, and increase the reliability of service. Plans resulted in construction of two ferry terminals. Expansion of these initial terminals to accommodate three terminals and the construction of a new plaza and promenade is currently underway in the South Basin.