Federal, state and local officials are celebrating another milestone in the conversion of San Francisco’s Doyle Drive to the Presidio Parkway.
Officials will attend a groundbreaking ceremony this morning commemorating the project’s second major construction contract, one to build the southbound Battery Tunnel and a temporary traffic bypass.
Built in 1936, the south access road to the Golden Gate Bridge that carries more than 100,000 commuters each weekday is being replaced after it was deemed seismically unsafe.
Construction is already under way on the first of four tunnels, which will lower the roadway and increase park space. The seimic safety improvements are expected to be completed by 2013.
Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi will join the Federal Highway Administration’s Victor Mendez, Caltrans director Cindy McKim and Business, Transportation and Housing Agency Secretary Dale Bonner for the tunnel groundbreaking celebration.
Jose Luis Moscovich, executive director of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, will preside over the ceremony.
Small business owner Julie Berry, president of CalCon Pumping, will also speak this morning about her ability to hire more workers and acquire additional infrastructure thanks to CalCon’s participation in two project contracts valued at $3 million.
The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on the site linking the future Battery Tunnels and High Viaduct Bridge. Directions to the event can be found at www.presidioparkway.org.
The contract is funded entirely by President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and has received more than $100 million in federal stimulus dollars.
