If you had the long weekend off, you might have unplugged and missed an interesting piece in The Examiner about Supervisor Scott Wiener's idea to expand subway infrastructure in SF. The Supervisor's post on Medium (and his op-ed in The Chronicle) lays out his argument and provides his thoughts on how to overcome the obstacles to building subway lines throughout the city.
The projects and neighborhoods he calls out are the Central Subway project and a possible extension of that to Fisherman's Wharf, the downtown extension of Caltrain and high-speed rail, a second transbay tube, subway service to the city's west side and to southeastern SF.
As the region's hub for transit, it makes sense for San Francisco's subway system to be more robust — especially in light of future growth projections.
While big-picture planning, like Wiener's proposal, is crucial for the city's future, we are moving forward with additional efforts and near-term projects that are part of the city's Transportation 2030 initiative. These critical investments in the city's current infrastructure are funded by the propositions San Franciscan's passed last November, the first in a series of funding measures.
This is an important conversation to have. No matter what solutions are agreed upon, there's certainly a lot of work ahead.
What do you think of adding more subways to San Francisco?
The Central Subway Tunnel Boring Machine, "Mom Chung," in the subway's launch box under 4th Street. Photo taken May 14, 2013.