John Reber: The Man Who Helped Save the Bay by Trying to Destroy It (2014)

If you're in the bay area, the Bay Model in Sausalito is a surprisingly interesting visit. It's a giant scale model of the entire bay area (accurate in two dimensions, compressed in height) with water pumped in and out repeatedly to simulate the tidal cycle and river flow. It was originally used to demonstrate that the Reber plan was flawed (computational modelling at the time was just not feasible), but if you look closely near SFO you can also see attachment lugs that look like they were used to examine the impact of runway extensions into the bay. It's probably not worth the trip into Sausalito on its own, but there's a bunch of background material on display that contextualises it well, and you can easily kill a couple of hours there.

The original version of this article is on Boom: A Journal of California:

https://boomcalifornia.org/2015/04/14/the-man-who-helped-sav...

It's the same text, but has additional photos.

Both versions credit Eric Fischer for the map of the Reber Plan showing where the Bay would be filled and blocked. Eric is now Erica, and she maintains the most amazing collection of historic Bay Area transportation planning diagrams:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/sets/721576221390537...

One of my favorites, because I live a few blocks from there, is an early drawing of an interchange between Willow Road and the Bayshore Highway (now 101):

https://www.flickr.com/photos/walkingsf/5264346244/in/album-...

decades later, an Urban Planner and real-estate developer named Peter Calthorpe in Berkeley, would propose more infill with different endpoints. That plan was very publicly denounced by Save the Bay, and a battle of the blowhards ensued, with the loser (Calthorpe) retreating to design eco-cities in China, and the Bay once again escaping further pavement.