San Francisco faces another traffic test with major weekend closures on 19th Avenue

San Franciscans who withstood the recent closure of Interstate 80 will be tested once again this weekend, as Caltrans shuts off two northbound lanes of 19th Avenue in the Sunset District.

Beginning at 7 a.m. Friday, crews will post signs and traffic cones along the bustling thoroughfare from Sloat Boulevard to Lincoln Way, at the edge of Golden Gate Park. One lane of 19th Ave. will remain open for Muni buses, emergency vehicles and local access to homes or businesses.

Drivers heading north from Interstate 280 or San Francisco State University should prepare to confront an orange-vested traffic control officer, probably bearing a stop sign and a dogged expression. The officer who will likely direct them toward Sunset Blvd, a wide arterial detour that runs parallel to 19th Ave. It may be more packed than usual with motorists crawling toward the De Young Museum or the Beach Chalet soccer fields.

Parking will be restricted along 19th Avenue work zones, prompting more competition for curb space on nearby side streets.

Though the 70-hour work period will inevitably cause traffic snarls on San Francisco's west side, Caltrans has deemed it necessary to maintain a healthy road that also functions as a state highway. The 19th Avenue Rehabilitation Project will ultimately repave the road from Lincoln Way to Holloway Ave., preventing future potholes and helping preserve structural integrity.

Caltrans has condensed the work into three weekend closures on Saturday, May 8 and May 22, diminishing the impact on motorists "from 40 to nine days." By the end of that period, fresh blacktop will coat one of the city's busiest corridors, thick and shiny as a new pelt.

It's just one of several "rehabilitations" underway in a city of aging infrastructure. Over the next four years, Caltrans will take on other streets and freeway stretches, including Highway 101 and I-280.

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