Yerba Buena Island and the Bay Bridge

The Bay Bridge does not go over this island. It goes through it.

Yerba Buena Island sits in San Francisco Bay inside the City and County of San Francisco, and the Yerba Buena Tunnel runs straight through its centre, connecting the western and eastern spans of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and linking the city to Oakland. Treasure Island is joined to it by a causeway. Together the two islands cover 0.901 square miles and held a population of 2,500 at the 2010 census.

The island has collected names. It has been Sea Bird Island, Wood Island and Goat Island. The name that stuck may come from the pueblo of Yerba Buena, itself named after a plant that grew abundantly in the area: yerba buena, an alternate form of the Spanish hierba buena, literally good herb, used generally for local members of the mint family.

It is still a working island. The United States Coast Guard took over the lighthouse above the southern shore in 1939, and the Coast Guard's Sector San Francisco Vessel Traffic Service tower stands on Signal Road at the peak, watching the movements of every ship in the bay.

What has changed recently is public access. San Francisco now runs a growing parks and open space system across Treasure and Yerba Buena Islands, with sports fields and outdoor recreation, managed through the Treasure Island Development Authority. Treasure Island's parks are open dawn to dusk, and Cityside Park on the western shoreline offers a lawn, a pedestrian plaza and a barbecue plaza with picnic spots and grilling stations available first come, first served.

The view back at the city from there is the reason to make the trip.