San Francisco Returns $15 Million Federal Grant for Market Street Improvements

The Better Market Street project, approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2019, has hit a snag: San Francisco is returning $15 million in federal grant funding for a project project because it expects to miss a construction deadline set for 2025.

Richard Cano reports on the details of the planning and bureaucracy failure for the San Francisco Chronicle. 

"When San Francisco officials approved the ambitious Better Market Street project in 2019, they envisioned it would come with the construction of a rail loop for its historic streetcars," writes Cano."But the turnaround loop for Muni’s F line, planned just east of United Nations Plaza at Seventh and McAllister streets, has become the latest item in the project to get delayed or scaled back."

J.K. Dineen reported on the $15 million grant when it was awarded through the BUILD Grant program.

The loop for the F line has been moved to a later phase of construction. "Project leaders filled the $15 million funding hole with bond funds, and it’s unclear when, or if, the project will advance beyond its first phase of construction," according to Cano. Despite the setback, the Better Market Street project has already had an impact on the city's central business district, closing the street to most automobile traffic in January 2020.