San Francisco Planners Study Extension of Central Subway to Fisherman's Wharf

San Francisco Chronicle Architecture Critic John King throws his support behind a plan to extend San Francisco's Central Subway to the northeastern waterfront, home of the city's popular Fisherman's Wharf tourist attraction.

Here's how King describes the plan: "A cadre of city planners worked through 14 scenarios on how to extend the Central Subway from Chinatown, where the northernmost stop at Stockton and Washington streets is scheduled to open in 2019, to Fisherman’s Wharf and back. The costs would range from $367 million to $1.4 billion, and the number of riders using the enlarged T-Third line is projected to climb as much as 55 percent beyond the levels now anticipated."

King supports the plans for its ambitions (all to rare there days, says King) and its potential to connect a part of the city now occupied mostly by tourists and the extremely wealthy. "According to King, there’s a compelling power to the idea of an extension that, if nothing else, would make the Central Subway seem less like a boondoggle and more of a factor in the shaping of tomorrow’s city. The empty lot of the Pagoda was a starting point for dreams. Let’s see if it can become a starting point of something real as well."  

Michael Cabanatuan reported the news of a study analyzing the extension, released at the end of November by the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority.