San Francisco weekend traffic and transit: Noise Pop pops off

Another summertime weekend in SF is just around the bend, which for most of us means two days chilling in the fog and forgetting our burdens.

Unless, of course, you end up chilling in traffic because of a poorly timed street closure or unexpected Muni reroute. To make sure your weekend stays on schedule even when nothing else in the city does, here’s an early heads up about where City Hall plans to pull out the stops in the days ahead.

Noise Pop Block Party: August 18 (Mission)

The actual Noise Pop music festival itself has already come and gone (popped?) in February, but this weekend marks the sixth straight Noise Pop 20th Street Block Party in SoMa, a promotional event staged by the festival organizers in the Mission and featuring a fairly robust slate of noise makers in its own right.

This year’s schedule includes Jeff Rosenstack, the She’s, and Fan, but probably fewer people will be a fan of the pending street closures around the festivities, as SFMTA says it will cordon off the following blocks to traffic between noon on Friday, August 17 through 11:59 p.m. on Saturday, August 18:

• 19th Street between Harrison and Bryant.
• 20th Street between Harrison and Bryant.

No bus service (or at least, no Muni service) will be affected by the closure, but expect little extra traffic on either side of the sectioned blocks.

Polk Street Blues Festival: August 18-19 (Polk Gulch)

Those who don’t like the sound of the Noise Pop lineup may want to gravitate north toward the eight Polk Street Blues Festival, which will paint the town blue this year with the help of acts like Swamp Thang, Guy and the Rattlecans, and Rhythm Doctors.

Another potential cause for the blues: From 2 a.m. Saturday to 11:59 p.m. Sunday, the city will block off traffic on the following blocks:

• Polk Street between California and Post.
• ”Various alleys at Polk Street.”

This will also mean that the 19 Polk line will have to detour around the twelve-bar blowout.

Sunday Streets SoMa: August 19 (SoMa)

It’s that time of the month again, and Sunday Streets is finally expanding its repertoire with a SoMa sojourn, the first new additions to the Streets schedule since 2013.

The lineup ranges from pet adoption to the Ninth and Tenth Street “Leather Hub” celebrating SoMa’s long and exotic history as a hot spot for S&M, so it’s banking on some pretty broad appeal.

Less appealing: SFMTA warns that “From 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. [Sunday], Folsom Street between Essex and 10th streets will be closed to all vehicular traffic,” although cross traffic is allowed at the intersections of Second and Folsom through Tenth and Folsom.

Naturally, this means that the 12 Folsom Muni line and the 27 Bryant will have to consent to a workaround of their usual route.

• 20th Street Block Party [Noise Pop]
• Weekend Traffic & Transit [SFMTA]
• Bay Area Blues Festival [SRES]
• Sunday Streets SoMa [Curbed SF]