Photo by SFMTA Photography Department
At the June 9 Transportation Authority Board meeting, our board approved $230,700 in Prop L transportation sales tax funds for the Central Subway North Beach Extension Study, a two-year effort to evaluate extending light rail service from Chinatown to North Beach. The Board gave final approval at the June 23 meeting. The potential extension of the Muni Central Subway T-line was the subject of a hearing at the Board of Supervisors earlier this year, sponsored by District 3 Supervisor and Transportation Authority Vice-Chair Danny Sauter.
The Board allocated $180,800 of sales tax funds to SFMTA to conduct the study and appropriated $49,900 to the Transportation Authority to conduct ridership forecasting and other planning support services. The Board also approved the use of approximately $370,000 in remaining funds from an earlier Prop K sales tax-funded Central Subway extension feasibility study to support the North Beach Extension Study.
The study will develop conceptual engineering and cost estimates for a one-station extension to North Beach, including an analysis of potential station design and construction methods. It will also compare two approaches: building a North Beach station along with additional stations to the north in a single future phase, or opening a North Beach station first and extending the line further later.
A key piece of the necessary infrastructure is already in place. The existing Central Subway tunnels extend beyond Chinatown, though they are unfurnished - no rail, signalling, power, or safety infrastructure has been installed. A North Beach extension could use these existing tunnels to deliver rapid transit service to a dense residential and commercial neighborhood sooner than a longer extension would. The extension would connect North Beach with Union Square, Market Street, SoMa, Mission Bay, and the Bayview, including regional connections to BART and Caltrain.
The Central Subway Extension is one of five major transit expansions identified in the ConnectSF Transit Strategy (2021) and the San Francisco Transportation Plan 2050 (2022). Findings from the study will inform the next major update of the Transportation Authority’s countywide transportation plan, anticipated to begin in 2027.
The SFMTA expects to complete the Central Subway North Beach Extension Study in May 2028 and will share the findings with the Transportation Authority Board and Community Advisory Committee.
Resources
Central Subway Extension (SFMTA)
June 9 Transportation Authority Board Presentation (PDF)
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