By Jonathan Farrell

Members of the Sunset Heights Association of Responsible People (SHARP) were eager to

hear the status of the Outer Irving Street Streetscape Project at a community meeting

held at the SF County Fair Building, located at Ninth Avenue at Lincoln Way, on June 28.

Since the Summer of 2013, the SF Department of Public Works has been coordinating

the project with a budget of $9 million.

With the help of Shaw Pipeline, Inc., construction for the streetscape section of

the project (from 19th to 27th avenues) is nearly complete. Remaining work for the

project includes:

• installation of decorative crosswalks at 20th, 22nd and 27th avenues;
• Irving Street gateway columns in the new bulb-outs fronting the 22nd Avenue Produce Market and Salon De Hong Kong;
• connection of new LED streetlights between 19th and 22nd avenues;
• sewer work, paving and curb ramp work on 45th Avenue, from Lincoln Way to Lawton Street;
• small changes to the SoMa Stones at 22nd and 25th avenues. The overall amount of stones will be reduced and some will be replaced with round planters, which will increase greening and provide a new activation for the bulb-outs.

Sunset District resident and community organizer Andrea Jadwin has been working

on the project since its beginning, about four years ago.

“A group of neighbors and merchants worked with the SFMTA to minimize the loss of

parking spaces, retain our parklet and mitigate the effects of the concrete bulb-outs with

trees, plants and seating,” Jadwin said.

As part of a citywide plan to improve neighborhoods, the SFMTA and the Department of

Public Works have been working together to revitalize and update city streets, traffic

intersection and transit stops to make them safer and more efficient for various

modes of travel.

San Francisco Supervisor Katy Tang (District 4) is a member of the supervisor’s

Budget Committee. She said she has worked very hard to “ensure that Sunset District and

citywide priorities are adequately funded to keep our streets clean and green … and to

improve cleanliness on Noriega Street (between 45th-47th avenues)

and Judah Street (between 44th Avenue and La Playa). We also requested

that funding be set aside to expand our effort to prevent cigarette butts from being

thrown onto our streets and eventually into the ocean. If the pilot program is successful,

our office will use this funding to expand the program into additional

commercial corridors.”

Because there has been a delay in the completion of the construction work, many

businesses have had a reduction of business, or have gone out of business.

The Irving Streetscape Improvement Project was anticipated to be completed in

January, but some work is still in progress.

For more information about the Irving Streetscape Improvement Project visit the

website at http://sfpublicworks.org/irving or call (415) 558-5281.