ran stories throughout 1913 featuring supportive citizens, businessmen, and property owners in the assessment districts. Despite these efforts, by September the directors of the PPIE firmly opposed the tunnel, saying that construction activities would disrupt the exposition and that it would not be ready by 1915. One of the original advocates for the tunnel, Samuel Adelstein, now also opposed the tunnel's construction, as he felt the improvement district levies for his property was disproportionately large. Believing that it could not be finished in time for the exposition, the Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to abandon the Fillmore Tunnel project in mid-September; by that time, the estimated start of construction had slipped to July 1914. Design The tunnel was to run from Sutter to Filbert, including approaches. Its design was divided into two bores: one was wide for pedestrian and rail traffic, and the other bore was wide with three vehicle lanes. The maximum vertical clearance within the tunnel as designed was at the center of each bore. When completed, the maximum grade along Fillmore would have been reduced to 2.3 percent; an alternative, constructing a balanced cable way on the surface, would require a maximum 25.4 percent grade. Arnold's study, which included considering alternative routes for both low-level tunnels along Steiner (from Pine to Union) and Divisadero (from Pine to Lombard), and high-level tunnels along Divsiadero (Sacramento to Greenwich) and Broadway (Mason to Larkin), concluded the Fillmore tunnel offered the best (low-level) approach and grade, but would cost significantly more than the similar Stockton Street Tunnel due to its additional length and bore size. The design would have widened Fillmore along the two blocks at either end (between Bush and Sutter on the south, and between Union and Filbert on the north) to accommodate the approaches; the existing URR Fillmore line would continue to run over the hill. In the initial plan, the tunnel was to be bored from the north using a tunneling shield, with the material removed to be used as fill to reclaim land at Harbor View. Several test wells were drilled along the proposed route to determine the composition of the hill. Although most of the test bores encountered only sand and clay, near the crest of the hill at Broadway, the drill encountered broken rock below the surface and would not go further. References External links Tunnels in San Francisco Road tunnels in California