Super Conferences Keep SF Humming

If you've been in the downtown/SoMa area in the last few days, you may have noticed that the first of the big fall conventions is well underway. Almost a decade ago the city began hosting conventions that need so much space they close Howard Street between 3rd and 4th streets in order to connect the Moscone Center's north and south buildings. 

The oldest of these is Oracle's Open World conference, which will be held this year from October 25 to 29. This week Salesforce kicked off its Dreamforce conference, which started using a similar plan a few years ago. Approximately 45,000 are expected to attend workshops and product demonstrations at Moscone Center North, South and West for this week's event.

Managing the usually congested SoMa streets with this busy block closed and an additional influx of people is a challenge. But although traffic will be impacted, we're implementing a plan to ease the pain as much as possible.

Having worked with this configuration over the years, our traffic team have put a comprehensive response together.

• Timed traffic lights along the path of the traffic detours 
• Signed bike route detour
• Traffic enforcement by our parking control officers and by SFPD officers at  key locations
• Caltrans signs alerting drivers on nearby freeways as they head into the area
• Street-level over-sized electric signs to forewarn drivers already in town
• Close coordination with San Francisco Public Works and other larger construction projects, like our own Central Subway

True, this is a lot of work for the city, but these large events have a big impact on our economy. 

During these conferences, the surrounding neighborhood certainly sees significant traffic congestion -- both on foot and on wheels --  between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily for the duration of the Howard Street closure. Howard Street traffic will be detoured either on 2nd Street to Harrison Street or via New Montgomery Street to Hawthorne Street, then to either Folsom or Harrison streets.

For full details, including affected Muni routes, please check out our Weekend Traffic and Transit Advisory.

Howard Street, looking east from the pedestrian bridge on a calmer day. May 2, 2015 Liji Jinaraj via Flickr