CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN FRANCISCO : Freeway Demolition Put Off Until April

Federal Highway Administration bureaucrats have decided that San Franciscans will have to put up with the earthquake-damaged Embarcadero Freeway at least until April, state officials said. Mayor Art Agnos, his staff and the state Department of Transportation had been under the impression that demolition of the elevated roadway could begin in January. But Caltrans officials said federal regulations require an environmental report before the 80,000 tons of freeway can be removed. The $15-million tear-down project is now slated to begin 1 1/2 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake. City officials, merchants and critics of the double-decked freeway want to demolish the roadway as soon as possible to help solve traffic problems.