Geary Subway
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The Geary Subway is a proposed rail tunnel underneath
Geary Boulevard Geary Boulevard (designated as Geary Street east of Van Ness Avenue (San Francisco), Van Ness Avenue) is a major east–west thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, United States, beginning downtown at Market Street (San Francisco), Market ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
,
California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
. Several plans have been put forward since the 1930s to add a
grade separated In civil engineering (more specifically highway engineering), grade separation is a method of aligning a junction of two or more surface transport axes at different heights ( grades) so that they will not disrupt the traffic flow on other tr ...
route along the corridor for transit.
San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni ) is the primary public transit system within San Francisco, California. It operates a system of List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines, bus routes (including Trolleybuses in San Franc ...
bus routes on the street served 52,900 daily riders in 2019, the most of any corridor in the city.


Background

The
Geary Street, Park and Ocean Railway The Geary Street, Park and Ocean Railway was a street railway in San Francisco, California, United States. History The company received a franchise from the city to operate a cable railway on November 6, 1878. Operations commenced on Febru ...
began operating
cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift *** ...
s on Geary starting in 1880.
San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni ) is the primary public transit system within San Francisco, California. It operates a system of List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines, bus routes (including Trolleybuses in San Franc ...
(Muni) acquired the corridor as its first
streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
line, opening in 1912. The agency's A Geary-10th Avenue, B Geary, C Geary-California, and D Geary-Van Ness lines traversed the street. Rail service ended in 1956 and trips were replaced with buses. By 2008 the
38 Geary 38 Geary is a bus line operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni). Together with the limited service routes that share the number, the 38R Geary Rapid, 38AX Geary 'A' Express, and 38BX Geary 'B' Express, the Geary Boulevard corridor m ...
and 38R Geary Rapid constituted Muni's most heavily used bus line in the city with over 50,000 passengers per day. In addition, the 1 California and 31/31AX/31BX Balboa combine for an additional 38,000 passengers per day, running parallel approximately north and south of 38/38R Geary, respectively.


Proposals


Early plans

By the 1930s, Geary was the city's most congested transit corridor. In 1931, City Engineer
Michael O'Shaughnessy Michael Maurice O'Shaughnessy (28 May 1864 – 12 October 1934) was an Irish civil engineer who became city engineer for the city of San Francisco during the early twentieth century and developed both the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni) a ...
proposed a
streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
subway which would branch from a proposed
Market Street subway The Market Street subway is a two-level subway tunnel that carries Muni Metro and BART trains under Market Street in San Francisco, California.
along O'Farrell, one block south of Geary, running underground to Larkin Street; this routing was chosen to avoid potential interference with a future planned north/south subway route along Third and Kearny. A later report in 1935 recommended a tunnel under Geary as well as subway routes under Market Street and Mission Street for removing operations from the surface. The Geary route included of tunnel under Geary Street starting at Hamilton Square in the west, turning north under
Montgomery Street Montgomery Street is a north-south thoroughfare in San Francisco, California, in the United States. It runs about 16 blocks from the residential Telegraph Hill, San Francisco, Telegraph Hill neighborhood south through downtown San Francisco, ...
and surfacing at Washington Street onto Columbus Avenue — it would have connected with existing surface tracks at its ends. This route was projected to cost between $13.6 million and $16 million (between $ to $ in adjusted for inflation). A further study in 1936 by Ridgeway and Bradhey also identified Geary as a preferred subway route. Voters suffering from the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
did not have a desire for such a municipal expenditure. A report prepared for the City Planning Department in 1950 outlined plans for rapid transit lines in San Francisco and included a Geary Line.


Marin Line of Bay Area Rapid Transit

As a precursor to full
Bay Area Rapid Transit Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) is a rapid transit system serving the San Francisco Bay Area in California. BART serves 50 stations along six routes and of track, including eBART, a spur line running to Antioch, and Oakland Airport Connecto ...
(BART) planning, a Geary Subway was once again studied in 1960 as the connection into
Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...
. The tunnel was expected to run from Market and Montgomery to Park Presidio Boulevard before turning north to California Street in anticipation of an extension to Marin. As designs for the BART system were being finalized, the Marin Line was intended to begin Downtown and run under Post Street before turning north to run across the
Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in California, United States. The structure links San Francisco—the northern tip of the San Francisco Peni ...
. The subway tunnel would connect to the trunk line under Market Street near Montgomery Street, running west and briefly surfacing near Maple Street and Post before entering another tunnel in the
Presidio of San Francisco The Presidio of San Francisco (originally, El Presidio Real de San Francisco or The Royal Fortress of Saint Francis) is a park and former U.S. Army post on the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula in San Francisco, California, and is part ...
. When
Marin County Marin County ( ) is a county located in the northwestern part of the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 262,231. Its county seat and largest city is San Rafael. Marin County is ac ...
pulled out of the transit district, some plans called for a subway only extending to the Richmond District, but these were soon scrapped.


One of the Four Corridors

In 1989, the city of San Francisco approved Proposition B, a
ballot measure A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
that approved a half-cent
sales tax A sales tax is a tax paid to a governing body for the sales of certain goods and services. Usually laws allow the seller to collect funds for the tax from the consumer at the point of purchase. When a tax on goods or services is paid to a govern ...
for transportation. The expenditure scheme that was included in the proposition prioritized the planning and implementation of transit expansion along four transit corridors, including Geary Boulevard. Subsequently, the
San Francisco County Transportation Authority The San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) is a state chartered sub-regional transportation planning and programming agency for San Francisco County. SFCTA is a separate legal entity from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation ...
(SFCTA) conducted a study, titled the Four Corridor Plan, to determine the details of the transportation improvements along the corridors outlined in Proposition B. The study called for a subway-surface rail line along Geary, running on the surface as far east as Laguna Street and underground to either the
Financial District A financial district is usually a central area in a city where financial services firms such as banks, insurance companies, and other related finance corporations have their headquarters offices. In major cities, financial districts often host ...
or
South of Market South of Market (SoMa) is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, so named due to its location south of Market Street. It contains several sub-neighborhoods including South Beach, Yerba Buena, and Rincon Hill. SoMa is home to many of ...
. When the tax was extended in the early 2000s, the project was changed to focus on implementing bus rapid transit features along the corridor. Dedicated
bus lane A bus lane or bus-only lane is a lane restricted to buses, generally to speed up public transport that would be otherwise held up by traffic congestion. The related term busway describes a roadway completely dedicated for use by buses, whilst ...
s were opened along Geary as a result of
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
service changes in early 2021.


New BART plans

In 1995, the
San Francisco Municipal Railway The San Francisco Municipal Railway (SF Muni or Muni ) is the primary public transit system within San Francisco, California. It operates a system of List of San Francisco Municipal Railway lines, bus routes (including Trolleybuses in San Franc ...
hired Merrill & Associates to study the possibility of building a new BART subway beneath Geary in conjunction with adding
light rail Light rail (or light rail transit, abbreviated to LRT) is a form of passenger urban rail transit that uses rolling stock derived from tram technology National Conference of the Transportation Research Board while also having some features from ...
on the surface. The estimated cost of construction as far as Park Presidio Boulevard was $1.4 billion in 1995 ($ in adjusted for inflation). Projections from this study put BART ridership at 18,000 daily boardings, and the alignment would allow for a further extension to Marin. These plans were dropped, according to former Senator
Quentin L. Kopp Quentin Lewis Kopp (born August 11, 1928) is an American attorney and politician. He served as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and in the California State Senate. Kopp ran unsuccessfully for mayor of San Francisco in 1979 again ...
, due to merchant and resident opposition, citing potential blight similar to that caused by
Market Street subway The Market Street subway is a two-level subway tunnel that carries Muni Metro and BART trains under Market Street in San Francisco, California.
construction two decades earlier. Ongoing studies will determine whether the corridor may one day be served by future BART service. A Geary Subway may be constructed as an extension of the second Transbay Tube.


Geary/19th Avenue Corridor

On-line and in-person outreach indicated the public felt a subway along Geary was the system's most needed improvement. A new study was undertaken after the 2021 ConnectSF Transit Strategy plan was released, proposing a new rail route to connect Downtown and Daly City via Geary and 19th Avenue; projected daily ridership across the
Muni Metro Muni Metro is a light rail system serving San Francisco, California, United States. Operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), a part of the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), Muni's light rail lines saw an aver ...
would increase to 300,000 with the new route, with a preliminary cost estimate of US$20 billion.


References


External links


Bay Area Rapid Transit System San Francisco
— 1961 map of planned rapid transit in San Francisco {{Bay Area tunnels Proposed railway lines in California Proposed public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area Proposed railway tunnels in North America Tunnels in San Francisco Proposed tunnels in the United States