Major Crossings at 19th Ave. to Close for Work

By Jonathan Farrell

Improvements to the pedestrian crossings at the intersections of 19th Avenue and Judah and Taraval streets and Sloat Boulevard are set to begin sometime before the end of the year. Traffic at all three intersections will be subject to crossing closures and detours to parallel streets. The improvement work is part of an extensive series of projects that began in 2007.

The improvements will require vehicle-traffic detours and closure of the intersections as work progresses.

Ha Nguyen, a project manager at the SF Metropolitan Transportation Authority, met with members of the Sunset Heights Association of Responsible People (SHARP) on Sept. 29 and gave a presentation of the plan.

Vern Waight, a member of SHARP, said he was impressed with Nguyen's presentation.

"It is a very extensive and complex project. While they are working on the streets, crews will also work on other utilities as well as the intersection improvements," Waight said.

Waight, who worked as a traffic engineer for many years with Caltrans, admitted that while he was impressed with the presentation in the initial plans, he recognized the impacts the project would have.

"It's going to be a mess along 19th Avenue for a while," he said.

Traffic enforcement officers will be directing traffic at each of the intersections while construction takes place, he noted. "As the work gets going people will have to get used to the inconvenience," said Waight. "Yet, once it is done it will be better and last for quite a while, at least 30 years."

With the additional utility work that will be included in the repairs, Waight said he understood the estimated cost to be about $18 million.

From Waight's perspective, as a former traffic engineer, 19th Avenue is a "surrogate highway."

"It was never meant to handle so much traffic, like a freeway," he said.

When the improvement work is completed at the intersections, 19th Avenue will still have six lanes to move traffic. By Jonathan Farrell