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Central Subway photos show underground progress

Platform and stairway bones revealed

By Brock Keeling
“Workers assemble utility conduits and pipes to be installed under the Yerba Buena/Moscone Station platform, with a view looking north up the southbound tunnel nearby,” according to Central Subway.
Photos by Central Subway

Traffic relief or $1.9-billion pockmark? Only time will tell what the San Francisco Central Subway, now taking shape under SoMa and Chinatown, will become once it opens in 2019. Or 2021. Or whenever.

San Francisco’s 1.7-mile extension of the T-Third Street line has hit a few snags along the way. Take, for example, the recent departure of the head honcho: John Funghi, the Municipal Transportation Agency engineer who has overseen the project for 11 years, quit to work for Caltrain late last year.

And while the city claims the underground line will be ready by December 2019, the subway’s main contractor, Tutor Perini Corporation, told the Board of Supervisors it won’t be done until much later. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, “the line won’t be ready for passenger service until spring 2021—nearly 2½ years after the original target date.”

Brouhaha and snafus aside, the images of Central Subway construction are a feast for the eyes. Here are the most recent photos from underground.

“Two men work together at the western wall of the Yerba Buena/Moscone headhouse to keep the work area cool by spraying water while cutting portions of steel brackets slated for eventual removal.”
Looking north inside the station box, corrugated sheet steel and rebar are being installed atop sections of station platform foundations, to eventually construct the completed platform.
“Looking north inside the station box, corrugated sheet steel and rebar are being installed atop sections of station platform foundations, to eventually construct the completed platform.”
“Looking southeast, a crew walks down the heavy equipment ramp to the north platform cavern's top heading, where excavation is ongoing.”
“A Bobcat brings sections of pipe into the left side drift of the arched Chinatown Station platform cavern south of the entrance from the headhouse.”
“A worker and surveyor take readings inside the top heading of the north platform cavern's center drift, where excavation is underway.”
“Steel mesh and shotcrete are being installed at the south headwall of the station box, just south of O'Farrell and Stockton. Workers inside the southbound tunnel mask off the lower section of the tunnel for sound reduction materials to be added later.”
“Concrete forms for stairs come together inside the emergency egress staircase along the east side of Stockton at O'Farrell.”
Looking east, the concourse level floor slab’s rebar cage takes shape inside the station headhouse.
“Looking east, the concourse level floor slab's rebar cage takes shape inside the station headhouse.”
“Workers have been putting down fresh bricks and stone as part of sidewalk and street restoration on Ellis where it meets Stockton and Market Street.”

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