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New subway route heads to MTA
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Related Topics: SAN FRANCISCO
SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - After years of community input and agency wrangling, a new route for the proposed $1.3 billion Central Subway goes before the Municipal Transportation Agency board Tuesday.
The board will also vote on requesting proposals from construction-management firms to oversee the project — a contract that could be worth up to $82 million, according to MTA documents.
The new alignment follows a route similar to a previous proposal, but goes underground at a new point. Locations of stations have changed and one has been added, according to MTA documents.
The Central Subway would connect the T-Third at Fourth and King streets with the downtown and Chinatown areas by traveling up Fourth Street, going underground underneath the Interstate Highway 80 overpass and continuing up Stockton until Jackson Street, according to the new proposal.
A new station is proposed for Fourth and Brannan streets and other stations are proposed to be located at Fourth between Folsom and Howard, Stockton and O’Farrell, and Stockton and Jackson. The location of stations is not yet final, officials said.
The project, which recently received $12 million in federal funding, is estimated to open in 2016 and has support from key city leaders, including Mayor Gavin Newsom and Board of Supervisors President Aaron Peskin, whose district includes Chinatown.
The overall cost of the new underground railway is estimated at $1.29 billion, said John Funghi, the Central Subway program manager, who added that financial commitments from multiple levels of government have secured all of the funding needed for the project.
“It’s a big step for us,” Funghi said of Tuesday’s vote.
The agency previously looked at three other options, including one that continued the route along Third Street, after crossing into the South of Market area. It has conducted more than 150 community meetings about the project. MTA staff recommends moving forward with the new Fourth and Stockton alternative.
Nathaniel Ford, executive director of the MTA, said the project has received “worldwide attention” from top engineering firms.
“In terms of its complexity, its location and what it means for this city, we expect a great deal of interest,” Ford said. He said the MTA would likely decide on a firm in the fall.
Newsom acknowledged that construction and the annoyances it could create downtown will be a “tough, tough challenge” for the MTA.
“But the alternative is what we have, and people agree that our surface orientation of Muni is not the most efficient,” Newsom said.
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Comments from Examiner Readers
5:31 AM MST on Mon., Jul. 14, 2008 re: "New subway route heads to MTA"
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3:15 PM MST on Tue., Feb. 19, 2008
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11:56 AM MST on Tue., Feb. 19, 2008
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6:21 PM MST on Fri., Jun. 22, 2007
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4:17 PM MST on Thu., Jun. 21, 2007
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Examiner Reader said:
I avoid driving through chinatown due to people keep on walking every where causing traffic jams. When i take stockton bus route, it is terribly crowded.Go ahead and do it! Some people need to be lead to in order to use the systems.Since people bitch about high gas prices and it will get worser in the future.Public transportation probably be good in the long run.Keep in mind that doing surface is a bad idea, what happened if there is an emergency...cops or ambulance can get to emergency spots. You don't what to tell an injured tourist that he going to die since ambulance got stuck in chinatown since they ran over some chinese folks getting to you.
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Seven said:
How about creating a subway people will actually use? The N-Judah is by far the busiest Muni line (contrary to popular belief it's not the 38 Geary). Make the N-Judah a subway to Ocean Beach.
41 agree | 39 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Chinatown and the northern Muni bus routes have been notoriously crowded to the point of being called the "Orient Express" for decades. And for good reason. The population served is the densest in the world outside of Tokyo and Hong Kong. Surface routes and regulations don't work here and haven't because there is no room. Major transit money has already been spent improving neighborhoods with less traffic congestion. Buses going through Downtown and other part of the City bog down through this section of town. Fix this leg of the system and the rest of Muni will have fewer problems. Are the naysayers voting to isolate Chinatown yet again? The businesses in Chinatown need delivery access on the very same streets the buses use. Transit - only streets will kill an already - dying Chinatown economy. Infrastructure is an investment in our future.
36 agree | 22 disagree
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e said:
$1.4 billion is crazy for only 1.7 miles! How about just making well-enforced bus-only lane or a surface subway for less than 1/10th that amount? Sure, cars will have to use another street, but it beats paying the equivalent of $1750/person in SF in taxes.
114 agree | 108 disagree
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jimsr said:
The reason we need this subway is because of all the people who live here for rent control but need to work in Oakland to have a job. Thanks "pol heads" for wasting our tax dollars.
111 agree | 126 disagree
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